July-Aug 2022: How SriLankan used to fly wide-body aircraft without passengers to Chennai only to tank up

NEW DELHI: State-owned SriLankan Airlines regularly used to fly a wide-body Airbus A330 without passengers from Colombo to Chennai to tank up in India and then use that fuel to top up its other aircraft going to nearby destinations last July and August when the island nation had completely run out of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for commercial flights. And during those two months, its long hauls originating in Colombo across the network ranging from Europe and UK in the west and Australia and Tokyo in the east would take a fuelling stop in any of the three closest Indian cities — Chennai, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.