Sri Lanka seizes plane of a Russian airline

Local newspaper News First reported on June 3 that Aeroflot was forced to cancel a flight from Colombo – Sri Lanka to Moscow – Russia after Sri Lankan authorities banned one of its civilian aircraft from leaving the country.

The Colombo High Court of Commerce issued an “arrest warrant for the Aeroflot aircraft” in response to a complaint filed by Celestial Aviation Trading Limited (Ireland) – which is affiliated with the aircraft lessor GECAS (Ireland).

An Aeroflot airliner. Photo: Wikimedia

Russian media reported on the incident, including RT and Sputnik.

Aeroflot confirmed the above information and said that a trial on the release of the aircraft mentioned above will be held on June 8.

Meanwhile, Russian tour operator Intourist told reporters that many of the Russians on board the captured plane had been accommodated at a nearby hotel.

After Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia for its “special military operation” in Ukraine, the lessors demanded that Moscow return the leased planes because of concerns about possible measures. secondary sanctions.

However, Russia kept the majority of these planes and declared the demand to return the aircraft a breach of the lease agreement. Moscow also registers those planes domestically so they can continue to operate.

According to the Airfleets portal, the plane seized in Sri Lanka was registered in Russia at the end of April this year and had been registered in Bermuda before.

Aeroflot’s website said it was an Airbus A330-300. The delayed flight on June 2 carried the number SU289.