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Sri Lanka Urges Airlines to Fly Full Tank or Fill Elsewhere

  • Emirates, SriLankan among carriers forced to fill up overseas
  • Island nation going through shortage of all essential supplies
Bandaranaike International airport in Katunayake, Sri Lanka.

Bandaranaike International airport in Katunayake, Sri Lanka.

Photographer: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images

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Sri Lanka is recommending airlines carry enough jet fuel to last return trips or fill up elsewhere, as the island grapples with a shortage of everything from oil to food due to a foreign-exchange crisis. 

“We’ve asked airlines to carry the required fuel while operating to Sri Lanka, because there is a shortage of aviation fuel, and we have to manage the situation,” Rayhan Wanniappa, a director of Sri Lanka’s Civil Aviation Authority, said in a phone interview Monday. “Airlines are bringing certain additional supplies, while we are also providing from our stocks.”