Kuwait Airways suspends flights to Sri Lanka

Kuwait Airways has suspended flights to Sri Lanka this week, in the midst of what the airlines called the “dollar crisis” and airlines’ reluctance to increase flights, as local offices declined to settle dues.

Kuwait Airways ended its operations to Sri Lanka last September, which was only one flight per week, without giving official reasons, reports Al-Jarida daily.

Reliable sources said that “the airline’s revenues were very low, compared to the operating costs of the flight to Sri Lanka.”

Meanwhile, sources warned that general sales agents and local airline offices did not pay their dues in dollars, a problem that persisted for about 4 or 5 months. In the case of Kuwait Airways, there were also concerns about the rising costs of landing in Sri Lanka, which are among the highest in the region.

Meanwhile, Kuwait Airways Manager – Sri Lanka and Maldives, Mr. Sudesh Rupasinghe, made the following comments this morning regarding the Airline’s temporary suspension of operations to Colombo.

"We would like to inform all stakeholders, including the Government of Sri Lanka, The Civil Aviation Authority, and the public at large that while we at Kuwait Airways always proud and joyful of what has been accomplished since our first operation to Sri Lanka, it is with our great regret that a decision has been made to temporary suspend our operations to Colombo effective January 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic consequences. We assure that our operations will only be suspended temporarily, and we are confident that the airline will be able to resume our flights to Colombo soon".