Colombo-Shanghai flight suspension will not impact cargo operations: UL

Saturday, 15 August 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Confirms 23 passengers were found COVID-19 positive on Dubai-Shanghai flight
Says SriLankan operated 15 similar charter flight repatriating over 3,000 Chinese passengers with no incident earlier

SriLankan Airlines yesterday clarified that its four-week suspension was made following 23 passengers being found COVID-19 positive in a charter flight from Dubai to Shanghai, but said the measure would not affect its cargo operations.

The National Carrier released a statement on its position with regard to the temporary suspension of the Colombo-Shanghai operation by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for a period of four weeks, which was announced on Thursday.

The airline operated a charter flight with 223 Chinese nationals onboard from Dubai to Shanghai via Colombo on 7 August. Prior to this flight SriLankan operated two similar flights from Dubai to Shanghai with zero COVID-19 positive cases, the statement said.

For the charter flight on 7 August, the charter operator insisted on all passengers taking the COVID PCR test from the local professional testing facilities which is also used by other prominent international airlines and carried out PCR tests on each of the 223 passengers.

“This testing process was carried out 72 hours prior to boarding the flight and all passengers boarded the flight with negative test results shown at the time of operation of the special charter flight. These tests were carried out as a proactive safety measure for the passengers and the crew at a time the PCR test was not considered as a mandatory requirement for China-bound flights out of Dubai,” the statement said.

Despite these measures taken, 25 passengers who were on this charter flight were found positive for COVID-19 upon their arrival in China.

“In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Civil Aviation Authority in China (CAAC) had introduced a new policy referred as the five-one policy, which restricts an airline to operate to one point to China per week. In line with this new policy, SriLankan Airlines had engaged in operating 15 such charter flights repatriating over 3,000 Chinese passengers from the United Kingdom and Dubai to China without any incidents.”

As per the CAAC policy, temporary flight suspensions are given to airlines if only more than five COVID-19 positive cases are found on a flight. The particular special charter flight operated on 7 August had 23 passengers tested positive for COVID-19, thus CAAC temporarily suspended SriLankan Airlines for four weeks as per the new regulations in place.

The SriLankan Cargo operation remains unaffected and will continue to fly to China when required.