The high airfare charged from Sri Lankan students being repatriated to the country amidst the Covid-19 pandemic became a much-discussed topic on social media. While SriLankan Airlines yesterday (26) clarified the high ticket prices of coronavirus rescue flights, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the Government also couldn’t bear the running cost to bring down stranded Sri Lankans around the world. Responding to social media posts that are currently circulating, CAA Chairman Maj. General G.A. Chandrasiri said the airline was a separate company and it had to somehow cover the expenses, implying that the airline had charged an excessive sum of money from the passengers who were on a specially operated flight to repatriate stranded Sri Lankan students from India to Sri Lanka. Around 250 officers were engaged in the mission to bring back stranded Sri Lankans in addition to the flight crew. Therefore, the airline has had to spend extra amounts for the sanitisation of those officers. “All flights are running at a time when a majority of the airports are on a complete shutdown and airlines are not working. The students are coming back with their parents’ consent and therefore charging a considerable amount to cover the flight expenses cannot be an issue,” he told The Morning. Highlighting why the Government cannot bear the additional cost, the CAA Chairman stressed that so far, around 500 students have been brought back to the country and they all would be sent to quarantine. “The quarantining facilities are being provided free of charge and the Government will bear the cost. For about 21 days quarantine too, the Government has to spend a higher amount,” he added. Meanwhile, issuing a media statement, SriLankan Airlines explained that at a time when the global airline industry is at a shutdown, SriLankan Airlines rose to the occasion where staff of the airline, including operating pilots, cabin crew, ground handling staff, planners, and many others behind the scenes, were risking their lives and families to operate a humanitarian flight that did not have a commercial objective. It is in this respect the airline had to quote fares that were purely based on costs for the special repatriation flight unlike general market fares that are based on market dynamics, the statement added. Furthermore, it stated that the special repatriation flight was also operated under special Covid-19 airline operational procedures, thus being subjected to a further increase in expenses that included the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff, deep cleaning, fogging, and de-misting procedures to disinfect aircraft, etc. When the total cost is divided among a lesser number of passengers, the per-passenger cost is substantially higher. By Maheesha Mudugamuwa