Sri Lankan airlines on their debut flight to Kathmandu amidst pandemic

Monday, August 30, 2021

Sri Lankan Airlines will be operating flights to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu starting Tuesday.

This will connect the island nation to the Himalayan nation.

Raj Kumar Chhetri, a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said that they had approved the Sri Lankan Airlines flights.

The operation will be effective from August 31 i.e. from Tuesday.

The carrier will operate two weekly flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays using the 158-seater Airbus A320 aircraft.

The flight will arrive at the Tribhuvan International Airport at 9:40 am and depart to Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo at 10:40 am.

According to Nepal’s civil aviation regulator, passengers need to furnish evidence of hotel booking for 7 days’ quarantine before boarding the flight to Nepal.

Travel protocols in Sri Lanka

The travellers will require a negative PCR test report for COVID-19. The test should be conducted 72 hours prior to arrival.

The starting fare, as per the filing by the airline, begins from $599 one-way.

As per the travel protocol of Sri Lanka, fully vaccinated travellers do not require to stay in quarantine.

They need to stay at a certified, safe and secure hotel until the on-arrival PCR test is performed [for 24-48 hours].

Once they test negative, vaccinated travellers can leave the bio-bubble.

The respective safe and secure hotel doctor will issue a “discharge document” upon verifying the vaccination status and PCR test results.

Unvaccinated travellers should stay at a certified safe and secure hotel for the first 15 days of the visit and undergo an on-arrival PCR test.

Travellers will undergo the second PCR test after 14 days and can leave the bio-bubble after getting a negative test result.

The government on the issues

Plans to establish direct flights on the Kathmandu-Colombo route were revived during the 18th Saarc Summit held in Kathmandu in November 2014.

Subsequently, the Sri Lankan government officially applied for authorisation to conduct daily flights between the two countries with Colombo-based carrier Mihin Lanka.

In March 2015, the Tourism Ministry had issued an operating authorisation to the carrier.

But the proposed services did not happen.

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