In July 2001 the LTTE carried out a devastating suicide attack on Bandaranaike International Airport, destroying eight of the air force's planes (two IAI Kfirs, one Mil-17, one Mil-24, three K-8 trainers, one MiG-27) and four Sri Lankan Airlines planes (two Airbus A330s, one A340 and one A320), dampening the economy and causing tourism—a vital foreign exchange earner for the government—to plummet. The impact of the attack was such that that year the Sri Lankan economy recorded a negative growth for the first and only time since its independence.