Sri Lanka reopens for inbound flights

Sri Lanka will re-open its international airports on June 1, 2021, subject to certain restrictions, according to an announcement by the county’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAASL). Until further notice, each incoming flight at Colombo Int’l and Hambantota may carry only a maximum of 75 passengers. Anyone who has travelled to India (including just in transit) in the past 14 days will not be permitted to enter Sri Lanka. In addition, all arriving passengers will be subject to a 14-day mandatory quarantine as per Sri Lankan health authority regulations. This follows a 10-day ban on international arrivals to Sri Lanka, ending at 2359L (1829Z) on May 31, 2021. The government imposed the restrictions following a drastic spike in COVID-19 infections in Sri Lanka from May 8, most notably in the capital Colombo. Airlines who will now be allowed to resume flights to the country – albeit at reduced capacity – include Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int’l) and SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo Int’l) from Doha Hamad Int’l; Emirates (EK, Dubai Int’l) from Dubai Int’l; and SriLankan Airlines and Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul New) from Malé (Maldives), the latter operating via the Maldivian gateway from Istanbul New. Air India (AI, Mumbai Int’l) flights from Mumbai Int’l and Delhi Int’l remain affected by a ban on all flights from India imposed by Sri Lanka earlier this month due to the high number of cases of the feared “Indian variant” of COVID-19 recorded in the neighbouring country. By May 28, the Sri Lanka Ministry of Health reported a total of 174,861 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 146,362 had recovered, while 1,325 people had died.