May 03, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1428

COLOMBO: Dubai’s Emirates Airlines said on Wednesday it would resume daytime services to Sri Lanka which were suspended following Tamil rebel air raids near the island’s only international airport.

“Following a review of the situation in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, Emirates will recommence services on Friday,” a spokesman said.

The airline stopped its services shortly after Sunday’s latest rebel air attack.

Emirates said it would only fly to Bandaranaike International Airport — which shares a runway with the Sri Lankan air force — during daylight hours.

Emirates, which owns a 43.6 per cent stake in the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, operates flights from Dubai to the Maldives, Singapore and Indonesia through Colombo.

The Dubai airline and Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific earlier suspended their flights to Sri Lanka after Tiger guerrillas flew light aircraft across the air space of the international airport and bombed oil depots.

In Sunday’s attack, a fuel storage tank was destroyed and two buildings suffered fire damage.

Cathay, Asia’s thirdlargest carrier, has yet to resume operations while Singapore Airlines announced it would resume daytime flights to Colombo.

Singapore Airlines, Cathay and Emirates account for about a quarter of Sri Lanka’s air passenger traffic, according to local travel agents.

Emirates’ suspension of services left Sri Lanka’s World Cup cricket team stranded in London without a connecting flight home.

The players will now arrive on another airline, a Sri Lankan cricket spokesman said.—AFP