The Government of Sri Lanka approved crew changes of international seafarers to be carried out off the Port of Galle in Sri Lanka under an operation managed by a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) monitored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Ministry of Health (MoH).
Due to the restrictions imposed with the pandemic, the seafarers are allowed to enter Sri Lanka only through Mattala International Airport (MRIA) in chartered flights carrying exclusively seafarers.
The seafarers are not permitted to arrive on any commercial airline flights to Mattala.
As the Maldives allows the entry of seafarers in passenger flights; charter flights from Male’ to Mattala have been since arranged through National Airline Maldivian.
PPP employed marshals are onboard these charter flights to ensure that the seafarers adhere to the health protocols during the journey.
On arrival at Mattala International airport, seafarers are attended to by designated agents to carry out immigration formalities before being taken to the Port of Galle.
The seafarers will be taken to the offshore transit hub where they would be taken to the respective parent ship.
Maldivian carries out the charter flights on the Airbus A320/A321 and occasionally on the Dash-8.