Moscow-bound aircraft barred from leaving BIA due to court order

The Colombo Commercial High Court has issued an enjoining order preventing a Moscow-bound flight under Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot from leaving Sri Lanka.

According to the order, the Airbus A330, which was scheduled to fly to Moscow, Russia, has been detained at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake. 

The enjoining order was issued by Colombo Commercial High Court Judge Harsha Sethunga after hearing a complaint filed by Celestial Aviation Trading Limited, an Irish company.

The enjoining order will remain in effect until the 16th of this month.

The plaintiff states that it has a settlement case with the respondent, the Russian Airlines.

Therefore, the complainant had filed a complaint seeking an injunction restraining the aircraft belonging to the respondent airline from leaving Sri Lanka.

The flight was scheduled to depart for Moscow, Russia at around 12.50 p.m. this afternoon.

Accordingly, 191 passengers were scheduled to fly to Moscow onboard that flight and steps have been taken to direct them to hotels near the airport.

The Russian government said in a statement that the aircraft was registered in Bermuda and had dual registration.

The Russian government states that this Airbus A330 aircraft which arrived in the island has flown to Sri Lanka on 7 previous occasions.

They further say that the aircraft had been detained after the Sri Lankan authorities had given a guarantee to the Russian aviation agency last March that they would not detain the aircraft of the Russian airline.

According to the Russian government, the Russian aviation agency is taking steps to resolve the issue.