Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM Spokesperson for the United Sri Lanka Association

To : Hon Chris Bishop MP
Minister of Housing 
Government of New Zealand.
Dear Chris,
Thank you for agreeing to advocate to achieve the above objective. The basis for this request is as follows:
1. There is an urgent need to improve connectivity between New Zealand & Sri Lanka, especially now, with the opening of diplomatic missions in Colombo for two years and in Wellington imminently. With these both governments have declared as their objectives, to improve trade, cultural, sporting, and tourism links between our two countries.

2. The greatest impediment to achieving this is the absence of direct air travel links between our two countries.

3. The irony of this however is that, every night, four Emirates A 380s ( the double-decker plane with nearly five hundred passengers) leave Auckland, on their way to Dubai, one directly, and another each via, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane respectively, & each of them flies directly over  Sri Lanka, and pays for emergency landing rights at Sri Lanka’s  Matttala International Airport (MIA) , being the only Airport they fly over with a runway long enough to land an A 380.

4. Encouraging Emirates Airlines to consider making at least one of these in turn to stop at MIA for passenger drop off and pick up daily, would be the most logical way to improve this much-required connectivity, with the least cost and disruption to any party.

5. The potential benefits for our two countries has already been referred to above. 

6.  For Emirates Airline, this should draw in an entirely new clientele visiting Sri Lanka, currently listed and listed many times in the past, as a top tourist destination by most tourism authorities.Furthermore, MIA has better direct motorway links than Colombo, to some of the most popular tourist destinations in SL like those on the southwestern coast,, the Yala National Park reputed to be one of the best parks in the world to view leopards, the eastern coast with a world-class surfing venue in Arugambay and Ella, a destination that the lonely planet rates very highly and very popular with young tourists offering many activity & cycling opportunities on hilly terrain and the Ella Kandy scenic train journey rated as one of the most scenic train journeys in the world.

7. Additionally, given SL’s close proximity to India, and the ever-improving connectivity between these two countries SL & India, these flights, in due course could be beneficiaries of the potentially one billion youthful travelers from India’s  1.4 billion population, soon to be the third biggest economy worldwide, only behind US & China. 

8. For Emirates, Stopping over at MIA  will also attract visitors to another tourist hot spot in the region. the Maldives which is another tourism hot spot in the region. 

Given this case, I would urge you to actively advocate for achieving this as you volunteered to be at Sri Lanka’s New Year Celebrations in Wellington on Sunday 21/4/24.

I also attached a world map clearly indicating how Sri Lanka lies slap bang in the flight path from Australia to Dubai.

I have already brought this up with our Hon Consul, Our current H/C in Canberra and tourism officials in Colombo.

Thank You very much

Yours Sincerely,

Chula

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM
Spokesperson for United Sri Lanka Association