Russia’s Aeroflot suspends flights to Sri Lanka

Russia’s Aeroflot airline has suspended its flights to Sri Lanka after Lankan authorities detained its Airbus A330 jet, Russian news agency TASS reported.

"Aeroflot is suspending commercial flights to Colombo (Sri Lanka) for the immediate period due to an unreliable situation in terms of the airline’s unobstructed flights to Sri Lanka. The sales of tickets for flights to Colombo have been temporarily shut down," the statement noted.

Aeroflot passengers located in Colombo with return tickets for June 2, 4 and 5 will be brought to Russia from Sri Lanka on June 4 and 5. Repatriation planes will fly to Colombo without passengers, according to the statement. The company also vowed that those passengers with tickets to Moscow for later dates would also be brought home as scheduled.

On Friday, Aeroflot reported that the departure of its SU-289 flight from Colombo to Moscow scheduled for June 2 was at first delayed and then canceled due to the absence of permit from Sri Lanka’s aviation authorities.

The Colombo Commercial High Court issued an enjoining order preventing the Russian Aeroflot flight from leaving Sri Lanka after hearing a complaint filed by Celestial Aviation Trading Limited in Ireland. The enjoining order will remain in effect until the June 16. A court hearing to lift the seizure of the aircraft is scheduled for June 8, 2022, TASS reported.

Meanwhile, Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka said in a statement that the Government has no involvement in the issue with regard to the detained Russian ‘Aeroflot’ aircraft while stressing that the " issue was raised due to a dispute over a commercial transaction between Aeroflot Russian Airlines and Celestial Aviation Trading Limited,"