Six flights bound for Katunayake were diverted to Mattala and Trivandrum airports due to bad weather conditions. Two Sri Lankan Airlines flights—UL 128 from Chennai and UL 118 from Malé—and Etihad flight EY 396 from Abu Dhabi were rerouted to Mattala Airport.
Meanwhile, another Sri Lankan Airlines flight from Narita, Japan, was diverted to Trivandrum, India. Additionally, Emirates flight EK 652 from Dubai, which also diverted to Trivandrum, later landed at Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) around 11:20 PM last night. An IndiGo flight that had similarly diverted to Trivandrum successfully arrived in Colombo later in the night.
The Meteorological Department has warned that a deep depression originating in the Bay of Bengal could intensify into a cyclone, potentially reaching Sri Lanka’s eastern coast. Heavy rainfall is expected in the Northern, Eastern, North-Central, Central, and Uva provinces.
