Nearly 30 Colombo China flights cancelled in May on high jet fuel prices

Rising jet fuel costs are taking a heavy toll on Sri Lanka’s aviation sector, prompting the cancellation of 29 China-bound flights scheduled for May.

China Eastern, which operates daily Colombo–Shanghai services, has informed authorities that it will cancel 19 flights next month as it is unable to cope with sharply higher jet fuel prices.

“We were paying around Chinese RMB 300,000 per flight as fuel costs in Colombo in February, and in March this shot up by a staggering 211%,” airline sources said.

“We have raised this serious matter with relevant stakeholders, including the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, but have not received any positive response.”

“Since the airline cannot increase fares to match this 211% rise, the best option we saw was to cancel some flights,” the office added.

Meanwhile, China Airlines, which operates Colombo–Kunming flights, has also indicated that it will cancel 10 flights next month.

China is a leading tourism source market for Sri Lanka, sending 54,580 visitors and accounting for a 7% share of total arrivals in 2026.

Industry sources said the flight cancellations are expected to have a severe negative impact on Chinese tourist arrivals and the wider tourism sector. (Shirajiv)