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Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga yesterday assured that flag carrier SriLankan Airlines will soon recommence direct flights between Moscow and Colombo, whilst explaining that the suspension of it was due to an insurance coverage issue.
“Discussions are underway to implement an alternative insurance scheme for this purpose,” the Minister said.
Noting a “force majeure situation”, the national carrier on Monday issued a statement on the suspension of the two weekly flights operating between Colombo and Moscow.
It also added that SriLankan Airlines will continue to monitor the situation in Russia and hopes to restart operations once conditions improve.
The Daily FT learns that SriLankan Airlines took the drastic step to suspend operations to Russia, after the pressure put by insurers from the ‘west’.
The UK and the US removed the insurance coverage for the flights operating to Russia, citing they also incurred a lot of issues in receiving transactions.
“The aircraft is insured by a British company. Therefore, the decision to cancel the SriLankan Airlines insurance policy was the key reason to suspend flights to Russia,” Ranatunga said.
The Minister emphasised that this was not a decision taken by the Government, adding that SriLankan Airlines had to face a situation due to an incident out of its control.
He vehemently rejected all media reports that it was a decision taken against Russia.
SriLankan Airlines commenced direct flights between Moscow and Colombo on 31 July 2021, after a lapse of six years.
As per provisional data released by the Tourism Ministry on Monday, Sri Lanka has received 37,355 Russian travellers as of 27 March, amidst the challenges emanating from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
