Airports and ports

When asked about the reopening of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said that there is a plan to do so on September 15. However, it is not set in stone. They will monitor the situation and take an appropriate decision, to open or keep the airport closed, nearer to the day.

“We will not open the BIA like opening the floodgates. It would be a controlled opening,” he said.

There is an increase in the number of repatriation flights, according to Dr. Samaraweera, with flights coming in every other day including some charter flights almost daily. Now samples being taken at the BIA are tested in the laboratory set up there, which has a 500-test capacity which can be increased if needed.

Looking at the different groups of people, he said the returnees have to undergo 14 days quarantine in either a staterun centre or a designated hotel, followed by another 14 days of home quarantine. Foreigners who wish to attend to business matters would also have to undergo 14 days of quarantine. This is a requirement as both these groups (returnees and business people) would be moving around in society freely.

“Tourists would be different as they would come and go but not mix with society. There would have to be group tours with a certain number in each group and they would have to go on guided tours with the specific places decided on in advance (have a strict itinerary) so that the health authorities are able to monitor them. Such specific routes would be expanded only gradually,” he said.

The Sunday Times understands that they would have to come to Sri Lanka for a minimum of seven days and would be tested on arrival and once again on the 7th day. If both are negative, they would be issued a green sticker on the 14th day with a slight relaxation of the restrictions. If a tourist tests positive for COVID-19, he/she would be able to seek admission and treatment from a designated private hospital. Tourists would also have to have COVID-19 insurance cover.

On the decision by China to cancel SriLankan Airlines flights carrying passengers from West Asia due to 23 testing positive, Dr. Samaraweera said that these charter flights had touched down in Sri Lanka but no one had got on or off. So there was no danger, but the airline crew has to be in quarantine.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Airport & Aviation Services, (Retd.) Major General G.A. Chandrasiri, said that there are no plans to reopen the BIA yet. They were working towards re-opening the BIA by mid-September.

The airports scattered across the country are the BIA, the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), the Jaffna International Airport (Palaly), Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) and the Ratmalana Airport.

Currently, the BIA and MRIA receive repatriation flights.

“We get three flights per day at each airport, with a total of around 900-1,000 people coming in. The others are small airports and do not cater to large passenger flights,” he said.

These repatriation flights ferry people from West Asia, the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom, Maldives, India etc., it is learnt. A flight is due from the USA on August 21, while a flight with 230 passengers came from Singapore on August 12.

All these passengers undergo the usual RT-PCR tests and quarantining processes.

The Chief Airport Manager of the Ratmalana Airport, Aruna Rajapaksha, said that Ratmalana primarily focuses on domestic and training operations which have begun in a small scale.

The only international flights they operate are corporate jets and in March they used to get 5-6 per month. They expect this number to continue once the country opens up for international flights, he said, adding that Ratmalana follows BIA protocols in terms of safety measures.

Ports

When the Sunday Times checked about Sri Lanka’s ports (Colombo, Hambantota and Galle) and harbours (Trincomalee, Kankesanturai and Oluvil), Sri Lanka Ports’ Authority Additional Managing Director Upali De Soyza said that passenger disembarkation was halted on March 3.

Cargo ships operate as usual, with 12 arriving at Colombo per day and around 150 at Trincomalee and 50 at Galle annually. When compared to 2019, there is a 9% drop due to COVID-19.

Here too RT-PCR tests and quarantining are followed if sea marshals disembark.