Sri Lanka tells airlines to fly with full tank or refuel elsewhere

COLOMBO • Sri Lanka is recommending to airlines to carry enough jet fuel to last return trips or fill up elsewhere, as the island grapples with a shortage of everything from oil to food due to a foreign exchange crisis.

"We've asked airlines to carry the required fuel while operating to Sri Lanka, because there is a shortage of aviation fuel, and we have to manage the situation," Mr Rayhan Wanniappa, a director of Sri Lanka's Civil Aviation Authority, said by phone yesterday.

"Airlines are bringing certain additional supplies, while we are also providing from our stocks."

Airlines that fly to Sri Lanka, including Dubai's Emirates, are tankering - carrying more fuel than required - while the island's flag carrier is using the southern Indian city of Chennai and Dubai to refuel for long-haul flights, sources said, declining to be identified as plans are confidential.

Sri Lanka has been plagued by a dearth of necessary items, power cuts and rampant inflation, leading to public protests calling for the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The country defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time this month and has started bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

SriLankan Airlines has taken measures for minimum interruption to flight schedules, its spokesman said. The steps include fuel tankering and refuelling aircraft through technical stops at foreign airports, he said.

Singapore Airlines is uplifting additional fuel on flights departing Singapore to Sri Lanka because of the shortage, a representative said in an e-mail.

Emirates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"There has been no effect in airport and airline operations," said Mr G.A. Chandrasiri, chairman of Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka, which operates the main airport in Colombo. "This is just a preventive measure."

The Indian ocean nation has been trying to come up with cash to pay for oil that has been sitting on tankers off its coast as its fuel crunch persists.

The country's sole refinery is attempting to restart after three months of shutdown, with crude supplies from Russia which it hopes to refine into usable fuel.

BLOOMBERG