Stopped on the return flight to Moscow
Controversy erupts over seized Aeroflot plane

6/4/2022 1:42 PM

Actually, an Airbus A330 plane is about to bring Russian tourists back home. At Colombo airport, however, the machine is arrested and cannot take off. Although it has no political background. The seizure is said to be of “entirely commercial nature”.

The seizure of a plane belonging to Russian airline Aeroflot in Sri Lanka has sparked a dispute between Russia and the South Asian island nation. Sri Lanka’s largest airport, Bandaranaike, denied that the government in Colombo had ordered the seizure of the Airbus A330. The airport administration said the matter was “entirely commercial” and that there was no reason for state interference.

The Russian plane was seized on Thursday on the orders of Colombo’s commercial court. Flight SU289 with 191 passengers and 13 crew members was stopped shortly before returning to Moscow. The background is a dispute with an Irish airline, which is due for hearing on Wednesday. Sri Lanka’s top envoy in Moscow was summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, where he was sent “strongly opposed”, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

The plane was grounded at the international airport in North Colombo, passengers were accommodated in hotels. Aeroflot suspended all international flights in March after Western countries imposed massive sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Flights to Colombo resumed in April. The Russian Aviation Authority has recommended that airlines operating foreign chartered flights suspend international flights to avoid seizure. It was initially unclear whether the seizure of SU289 was related to these sanctions.