Three Chinese airlines to reduce flights to Colombo

Three Chinese airlines, China Eastern, China Southern and Air China flying to Sri Lanka have curtailed their flights with effect from May.

China Eastern Airlines G.S.A Dart Aviation Director and General Manger Eustace Silva said that they will cancel their Sri Lankan summer schedule from May 1 until further notice. “This means that we will be stopping the four weekly flights operating from Colombo to Shanghai from May 1. However the four weekly Colombo Beijing and Kunming flights would continue until further notice.” Meanwhile officials from Hemas Aviation Ltd, GSA China Southern airlines and Jetwing Air GSA for Air China said that they too would reduce their flights to Colombo.

China has issued a travel advisory to those travelling to Sri Lanka owing to the explosions which rocked the country last Sunday. Accordingly, Chinese citizens have been cautioned to refrain from visiting the island nation until the situation has been restored to normalcy. The Chinese government has already instructed Chinese citizens in Sri Lanka to move away from crowded places.

“This has led to a lot of cancellations and the airlines too have to reduce our frequencies,” local airline officials said.