The Cabinet has approved the installation of eight more automated passenger clearance gates at Bandaranaike International Airport, taking the total to 12, and has decided to open the facility to foreign travellers for the first time.
Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa announced the decision at Tuesday’s post-cabinet briefing.
What changes
The eight new gates are additional to four e-gates approved in May 2025, the Daily Mirror reported. The new units will be acquired through formal procurement.
Hiru News dates that earlier approval precisely: Cabinet cleared the purchase and installation of the first four gates at its meeting of 19 May 2025. Tuesday’s decision therefore adds eight units to a programme approved sixteen months ago, rather than starting a new one.
The more consequential change is who may use them. The e-gate facility was originally limited to Sri Lankan passport holders; under the new approval it will be extended to foreign nationals arriving in and departing from the country.
“Considering the increase in the number of flights with the development of the business and tourism sector, it has been identified that the total number of automated passenger clearance gates should be increased to 12,” Jayatissa told reporters, according to EconomyNext.
“In line with the e-passport issuance process to be introduced in 2027, plans are to expand the automated passenger clearance gate facility, which was previously limited to Sri Lankans only, to include foreigners entering and leaving the country.”
Why 2027 matters
The expansion is pegged to Sri Lanka’s planned introduction of e-passports in 2027. Automated gates read the biometric chip in an e-passport; without that document, the gates can only serve travellers whose existing passports are machine-readable in the required format. The timeline means the hardware is being put in place ahead of the document that makes full use of it.
Sri Lanka has been working towards e-passport issuance for more than a year.
The proposal was submitted by the Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Daily Mirror reported.
Context and a dating caution
The decision lands alongside separate work on the airport’s physical capacity, including the Terminal 1 expansion that began this month.
A note on similar headlines: “e-gates at BIA” has been reported several times since 2025 — the May 2025 cabinet approval, and the first four gates entering service around the turn of this year. The discriminator for today’s decision is the count (12) and the extension to foreigners, not the “e-gates at BIA” framing on its own.
Not reported
No outlet gives a cost for the eight new gates, a supplier, an installation date, or which terminal they will serve.
