A Certain Colombo based News Paper had claimed that a SriLankan Airlines (UL) Airbus A330-300 aircraft that encountered fuel shortage was not allowed to Land at Muscat during it's return flight from London Heathrow Airport to Colombo.
To Counter the Claims of non-cooperation, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Oman came forward to issue a statement clarifying it's stand and actions related to the handling of the Sri Lankan aircraft (registered as 4R-ALR), while passing through it's Airspace.
A CAA-Oman statement read as,
"The CAA has followed with great interest the news published by a foreign electronic newspaper, claiming that concerned authorities in Oman had rejected a request made by a Sri Lankan flight for an emergency landing due to a shortage of fuel."
"The Authority investigated further, checking requests made for flight permits, and followed up on navigational communication records. It has become clear that the CAA did not recieve any request for an emergency landing from the aforementioned aircraft."
On 6th of July, Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL-504 departed London Heathrow (LHR) for Colombo(CMB), for an 11 hour regular journey, that was an overnight flight between two continents.
While Flying at an altitude of 41000 feet, in a non-regular affair, the aircraft went through Fuel shortage due to unknown reason , that forced it to make an emergency landing at Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram (TRV).
In it's defence , CAA-Oman Further added to the statement saying,
"Records show that the first contact by the Muscat Air Control Centre, with the pilot of the plane (Flight ALK504) on July 6, 2021 was before the plane entered Omani airspace. The flight requested a direct route due to a shortage of fuel and this request was immediately met."
As per the Oman civil aviation regulator(CAA) , they also made Coordination with the Sri Lankan airlines regarding the cooked story , that has been termed as false by both the parties.
CAA adheres to the international laws and practices,
"The CAA reiterates that it will not spare any effort in responding quickly to any emergency in order to preserve the lives of passengers, in compliance with international conventions and charters."
On that day, after refuelling operation at Thiruvananthapuram (TRV), Airbus A330-300 aircraft took of for it's final destination Colombo (CMB).
