Etihad to pull out of Sri Lanka in September

Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi-based airline, has decided to pull out of Sri Lanka on September 9 due to the uncertain security situation, industry officials said.

Earlier Cathy Pacific temporarily stopped flights due to an escalation in the fighting between government troops and the LTTE but resumed flights later. A night curfew at the airport in April, after small Tiger planes flew into Colombo and dropped bombs over economic targets, was lifted earlier this month.

Etihad, which didn’t give reasons for its withdrawal from this sector, said it would now offer flights to Colombo through it’s interline partner, Sri Lankan Airlines. It said it will honour its commitment to ticketed passengers till September 9.

Greet W. Boven, Etihad Airways’ executive vice president sales and services, said: “Whilst it is always disappointing to exit a market, the (Colombo) decision means that we will be able to redeploy the A330-200 aircraft to new destinations on our expanding flight network.”

He said Etihad continually monitors the commercial performance of its global flight network and has taken this decision following extensive market analysis.Etihad is among airlines like SriLankan Airlines, Emirates and Air Arabia that share the lucrative passenger traffic to the Middle East.

The bulk of the traffic comprises migrant labour.