SriLankan Airlines temporarily suspends flights to China

SriLankan Airlines said yesterday it would temporarily suspend its services between Sri Lanka and China from 10 March to 30 April due to current market conditions driven by significant reduction in worldwide travel to and from China.

SriLankan Airlines continued to fly to China after many airlines suspended services or reduced frequencies, including four Chinese airlines that operate between Colombo and China.

 The Government of China has also imposed restrictions on overseas travel of its own citizens.

The situation is being continuously evaluated on an ongoing basis and SriLankan intends to recommence services as soon as the situation becomes commercially viable. 

Accordingly, SriLankan stands ready to re-commence operations even prior to 30 April if the current market conditions are to normalise.

The airline has been operating services to three cities in China, namely Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It earlier reduced its frequencies to these cities with effect from 6 February.

These decisions, which are on a temporary basis, have been taken as per SriLankan’s long-held commercial policies, as the current seat factors (passengers per flight) to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are not sufficient to cover the cost of these operations. 

SriLankan Airlines cancels flights to Jeddah temporarily 

SriLankan Airlines has cancelled its flights to Jeddah from 15 March-30 April following restrictions being set in place by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) of Saudi Arabia on the entry of foreign nationals into Saudi Arabia, in view of the present coronavirus pandemic. 

SriLankan will continue to fly to other cities that it serves in Saudi Arabia, namely Riyadh and Dammam.

SriLankan advises its valued passengers that restrictions by GACA include a temporary ban on entry into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the purpose of Umrah and visiting the Prophet’s mosque for citizens of all countries.

The granting of tourism visas into any part of Saudi Arabia has also been suspended for travellers from China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao), Iran, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Philippines, Singapore, India, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Somalia and Vietnam.

The use of national IDs of citizens of Saudi Arabia and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations for the purpose of travel into or out of Saudi Arabia has been suspended; with the exception of Saudi citizens who are currently outside the Kingdom who wish to return to Saudi Arabia, provided that they had used their national ID to exit the Kingdom, and GCC citizens currently in the Kingdom who wish to exit Saudi Arabia provided that they had used their national ID to enter the Kingdom.

Passengers from any nation who have been in China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao) or Iran will not be allowed to enter Saudi Arabia until a period of 14 days has elapsed since their exit from those countries. This includes passengers who intend to transit/transfer through Saudi Arabia to other countries.

Crew members of all airlines that operate to Saudi Arabia may be subjected to medical checks after entry into the Kingdom.

GACA has also stated that all airlines are responsible for the return of passengers that they have already carried into Saudi Arabia for Umrah.