The Government has indefinitely postponed the decision to reopen the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for incoming leisure and business travellers, the DailyFT reported.
Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga said the Government is yet to draw a final decision on reopening the airport.
The airport will only be reopened after receiving approval from the Ministry of Health and the National Operation Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 (NOCPC), he said.
The Minister further said that various recommendations have been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers and the NOCPC in this regard.
The priority of the Government is to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to repatriate Sri Lankans stranded overseas due to the pandemic. Tourism and other sectors too have agreed that the reopening of the airport can be delayed until all Sri Lankans stranded overseas are repatriated, Minister Prasanna Ranatunga added.
The BIA was set to reopen in August, but due to a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in July it was postponed to September. However, the Government is yet to receive a greenlight from the Ministry of Health to reopen the BIA.
Meanwhile, National Carrier SriLankan Airlines has announced its schedule for this month where flights will operate to Shanghai, Male, New Zealand, Milan, Sydney, Frankfurt, Tokyo and London.
The airline continues to fly to selected international destinations despite global lockdown as part of the repatriation process.
Colombo-Shanghai flights which were temporarily suspended in August for four weeks have resumed, with a weekly scheduled flight.
In addition to the National Carrier, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad and Turkish Airlines are currently operating to Colombo as repatriation, cargo and departure flights.
Qatar Airways is operating daily flights, while Emirates has three departure flights a week on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Etihad has two departure flights a week and Turkish Airlines is mainly catering to cargo, while it also has departure passenger flights depending on demand. (NewsWire)