GOSL clarifies its position on EP delegation’s aborted visit to Trincomalee

(July 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been drawn to the reference made on the circumstances which led to the cancellation of the visit to Trincomalee by the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with South Asia. The latter’s press statement issued today (25/07/2008) states that “the last minute cancellation and a catalogue of chaos and confusion meant that the Delegation did not fly to Trincomalee. Despite repeated assurances, endless complications resulted in the party being turned back from the Ratmalana Airport,”

In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to outline the steps taken by the Government of Sri Lanka in facilitating the said visit as follows:-

(i) During the planning stage of the European Parliament delegation’s visit to Sri Lanka that just ended, the Government offered to transport the delegation in one of its aircraft which was declined by the European Commission office in Colombo, resulting in the latter seeking a private hire of an aircraft for this purpose;

(ii) The Ministry of Defence on 22 July 2008 contacted the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) and requested that a flight to China Bay utilizing a 1989 Beech King Air B 200 aircraft belonging to a private company be approved for this purpose. Upon the private operating company being contacted, they said that they were planning to operate the said flight on 23 July 2008, if they could meet the requirements of CAASL. This necessitated amendments to the documentation procedure, as the aircraft had not been authorized to operate on domestic routes.

(iii) In order to facilitate the visit by the European Parliamentarians to the Eastern Province, a thorough review was made by the CAASL in the morning of 23 July 2008 where all technical staff had been present and a one-off conditional approval was granted for the operation of this flight.

It may be noted that although months of preparation time had been available, the said aircraft had arrived in Sri Lanka from South Africa only on Sunday 20 July 2008, with an operating crew inexperienced with the route, and therefore CAASL was compelled to stipulate that the Director/ Operations of the private company was required to complement the crew of the said flight.

Once the clearance for the aircraft by CAASL had been given in the morning hours, and the final segment of the ensuing procedural process was taking place, the Parliamentary delegation which was scheduled to depart at 1330 hours had decided by 1300 hours to return to their hotel from the Ratmalana airport. Since this decision was made by the delegation itself, it is factually incorrect to state that the party was “turned back” from the Ratmalana airport.

It is therefore, abundantly clear that the Sri Lanka government had done its utmost in facilitating the European Parliamentary delegation visit to Trincomalee, including the granting of approval for the operation of the flight given the acute time constraints. Undoubtedly, the government wished for this visit to take place to showcase the developments in the Eastern province following its return to democratic rule. However, it is evident, especially noting the date of arrival of the crew and aircraft i.e. 2 days prior to the visit, that the private flight operator had not followed the required operating procedure in a timely manner to fulfill the regulatory and safety responsibilities of the Civil Aviation authorities to undertake the transportation of the European Parliamentary delegation as scheduled, to Trincomalee.

The position articulated by the Parliamentary delegation in its statement on not visiting Trincomalee is regrettable and is open to misinterpretation. Therefore, it would have been more appropriate if the statement released by the visiting Parliamentarians could have been more responsibly presented.
- Sri Lanka Guardian