BIA Airport closed to commercial flights from March 19, 2020. Can't enter Sri Lanka. - Live from a Lounge

In a bid to keep the transmission of CoVid19 into Sri Lanka, the Health Authorities in the country have taken the decision to shut down incoming commercial flights into the country for a week. As per a notice posted on the website of the Sri Lankan Airports & Aviation Services,

According to the instructions received from Sri Lanka Health Authorities, all international Airports in Sri Lanka will be closed for operation of inward international commercial passenger flights (i.e. arrivals) with effect from 0400hrs on 19 March 2020 (local time in Sri Lanka) until 2359hrs on 25 March 2020 (local time in Sri Lanka). The closure will be reviewed by the Sri Lanka Authorities.

During the above mentioned restricted period the following will be permitted:
1. Aircraft Departures with passengers originating from Colombo, stop overs, transit passengers or visiting tourists.
2. Emergency Diversions to BIA
3. Freighter Operations and humanitarian flights to BIA
4. Technical landings at BIA
5. Inbound ferry flights (without passengers) at BIA

What this clearly means is, Sri Lanka is currently open to people leaving Sri Lanka but is not open to having people come into Sri Lanka. The following airports are covered:

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• Colombo International Airport (RML)
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• Jaffna International Airport (JAF)
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• Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB)
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• Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI)

It is not clear at the moment if Sri Lankan will just cancel all their bookings for the time being or operate flights outwards from Sri Lanka but ferry empty flights back. Keep an eye on the Sri Lankan airlines website to get more information on an ongoing basis.

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