Sri Lanka says it impounded Russian plane because of trade dispute

Sri Lanka temporarily seized the Airbus A330 of Russian airline Aeroflot due to a trade dispute – Illustration: REUTERS

The Airbus A330 was seized at Bandaranaike International Airport on June 2, the same day it arrived from Moscow, at the behest of a court in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.

According to the plan, flight number SU289 will return to the Russian capital with 191 passengers and 13 crew.

Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that Sri Lanka’s top envoy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 3 to receive “objection” over the Capture the plane of Russia.

“We have called on the Sri Lankan side to resolve this issue in a short time in order to avoid having a negative impact on the traditionally friendly bilateral relations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

However, according to AFP news agency, Airport and Air Services, the company that operates Sri Lanka’s Bandaranaike airport, said keeping Aeroflot’s Airbus A330 “is purely a commercial matter” and should not be state involvement.

The aircraft was impounded by order of the Colombo Commercial Court following a lawsuit filed by Ireland’s Celestial Aviation Trading 10 Limited. The case is expected to be heard in court on June 8.

The plane is currently parked at Bandaranaike International Airport, north of the capital Colombo, and the passengers are booked into hotels.

Aeroflot suspended all international flights in March 2022 following tough Western sanctions against Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine. After that, the airline resumed flights to Colombo in April 2022.

Russia’s civil aviation authority has advised domestic airlines that are using leased or foreign-registered aircraft to stop operating international flights to avoid confiscation.

It remains unclear whether the detention of flight SU289 is related to Western sanctions against Russia.