Sweden, Oct. 15 -- 17 October Sri Lanka is scheduled to re-open the Palaly Airport as its third international aerodrome. There will be many who will applaud and give praise for the refurbishment and upgrading of the new airport; and there will be others who will criticize and curse the very thought of another international airport.

I have no side to take, I just want to share with the readers some historical facts of Palaly and express my thoughts on what the progressive possibilities are of this project if sensible people are selected to plan and execute the project whereby Palaly could be classified as an international airport.

Let's first look at the geography and the history of Palaly. The airfield is located 10 miles north of the J...