New system at BIA & MRIA

Both the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake and the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport ( MRIA) are following a new system with new restrictions, said Airport and Aviation Services Limited (AASL) Chairman, Major- General ( Retd.) G. A. Chandrasiri.

According to him only 1/3rd of the staff is reporting to work and all staff members are being subjected to compulsory RT- PCR tests, with around 150 samples being collected each day. This is while other departments such as customs and immigration have their own systems. Staff members from areas where curfew has been imposed are not reporting to duty.

Meanwhile, M r. Chandrasiri said that repatriation flights have been suspended temporarily. However, about 12 charter flights and 12 cargo flights arrive each day at the BIA and all protocols such as testing and quarantining are carried out. There are also transit flights, while departure flights too take-off from here. Flight operations at the MRIA have decreased and there is only one flight arriving per day on average.

He said that the first day the Minuwangoda cluster was identified, a female employee of the janitorial service which is outsourced tested positive. The same night, 187 more underwent testing and 42 people who were contacts of this patient were isolated. The next day, another male, also from an outsourced service tested positive. They are both receiving treatment at the NIID. Around 300-400 people are working in the cargo division and on Wednesday 117 tests were performed, all of which came out negative.

With regard to flight crews, Mr. Chandrasiri said that previously SriLankan Airline members went into home quarantine but now foreign airline and SriLankan airline crew are being quarantined at a designated hotel quarantine centre ( Hotel Mandarin or Airport Garden Hotel), followed by another 14 days of home quarantine. In case their flight is scheduled to leave before quarantine is concluded, they are allowed to do so.

Flight crews are tested on arrival and after five days and seven days, he added.