Crisis-hit Sri Lanka urges airlines to fly full tank or fill elsewhere

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.”

Airlines that fly to Sri Lanka, including Dubai’s Emirates Airline are tankering — carrying more fuel than required —