Emirates Airline said Thursday October 25 it will resume all flights between Dubai and Colombo from October 28 after the Sri Lankan government removed huge war-risk insurance premiums.
"We were compelled to scale down operations following the high insurance premiums that were imposed after the airport attack," said Commercial Operations Director Ghaith Al Ghaith.
The Dubai national carrier suspended flights from September 19 to and from Bandaranaike International Airport when war-risk insurance soared following a devastating Tamil Tiger rebel attack on July 24.
"These surcharges were removed recently enabling Emirates to resume normal operations," he said in a statement. The return to 11 weekly services will be completed by November 15.
Emirates have slashed flights to a number of destinations since the September 11 terror attacks on the United States as passenger traffic slumped. National carrier Sri Lankan Airlines, which is partly owned and fully managed by Emirates, saw four of its aircraft completely destroyed and two more damaged in the attack. — (AFP, Dubai)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
