Sri Lanka became the latest country to resume international flights after eight months of worldwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) recently released a statement regarding the opening of the country&rsquos airspace for international charter and commercial flight operations. It will soon be issuing directives for Civil Aviation Authorities around the globe.
Although there has been a gradual lifting of lockdown restrictions since May, Sri Lanka&rsquos two international airports continued to stay shut. With COVID-19 cases rising in other countries, plans of starting the international flight operations by the end of August were also stalled till further notice.
Later in October, the country was hit by a second COVID-19 wave that led to an increase in the number of deaths. According to Johns Hopkins University, Sri Lanka has recorded 32,135 cases. Out of the total, 22,000 have been recovered while 8,000 are getting treated in hospitals.
On the brighter side, according to the Foreign Ministry on COVID-19 Action and Director General East Asia, around 40,000 stranded Sri Lankan citizens from 122 countries have successfully returned to the country in the last few months.
With a promising resumption of international travel and safety measures in place, Sri Lanka&rsquos Minister of Tourism, Prasanna Ranatunga, said that Sri Lanka should consider welcoming foreign tourists as soon as the United States and Europe begin with the much-awaited COVID-19 vaccination process.