Dollars for air tickets move squashed

Shirajiv Sirimane

AIRLINE TICKETING: The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) has decided to not allow airline authorities to implement the proposed law to collect the fee for air tickets in US dollars.

The Board of Airline Representative (BAR) has proposed this move, which was vehemently opposed by the three airline associations, IATASL, TAASL and SLLAR last week.

“We have now received confirmation from the Director General CAASL, H.M.C. Nimalsiri, that this move has been squashed,” President of the TAASL Nihal Perera said.

“We thank the Minister of Aviation Mangala Samaraweera and the CAASL for intervening in this matter,” he said.

Had this been introduced it would have had a major negative impact on the industry and it would have also internatiolly devalued the Sri Lankan rupee.

This scheme is implemented only in countries where their currency is very low against the US dollar.