Find out the facts behind this model show inside a Sri Lankan Airlines flight!
Join our WhatsApp group for daily fact checks! Social media was abuzz last week, over a fashion show held inside a Sri Lankan airlines flight. Number of videos were shared regarding this incident, questioning the ethics as well as whether such an event could be conducted inside a flight of Sri Lanka’s national carrier. Social […]
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Social media was abuzz last week, over a fashion show held inside a Sri Lankan airlines flight. Number of videos were shared regarding this incident, questioning the ethics as well as whether such an event could be conducted inside a flight of Sri Lanka’s national carrier.
Social Media Posts
Number of Facebook and Twitter users had shared photos and videos of a model show which appeared to be inside a Sri Lankan airlines flight. Many had condemned these acts saying that the tourism brand of Sri Lanka had been reduced to a very low level as seen below.
“On board Sri Lankan Airlines. I don’t know what’s sadder - the plight of these women or the state of our national carrier and tourism brand image that’s been reduced to this”
Mainstream Media Reports
We first inspected mainstream media reports and came across this video on Daily Mirror's Facebook page relating to the same incident.
Daily Mirror reported that this were the scenes from an in-flight fashion show featuring international models, on a chartered flight of Sri Lankan Airlines, organized by Ballys Casino Colombo, to entertain their Indian Casino players arriving in Sri Lanka
Media Manager of Sri Lankan Airlines
We contacted Deepal Perera, the Media Manager of Sri Lankan Airlines on this matter. He also emphasized that this was purely a promotional activity of Ballys Casino to please their customers, using a chartered flight, purchased from Sri Lankan airlines and was not in any way an initiative of Sri Lankan Airlines to promote the tourism industry.
Ballys Casino
A spokesman for Ballys Casino also confirmed that this was a program carried out entirely on the basis of a sales promotion concept of the casino. He also said that the Sri Lankan Airlines, the Ministry of Tourism or any other government-related agency did not get involved in planning of these activities such as model shows and other in-flight entertainment acts.
Ballys Casino bought a Sri Lankan airlines flight (Chartered Flight) and carried out this promotion for its Indian customers. Accordingly, the spokesperson for the casino said that a fashion show was held during the flight for a group of about 500 passengers, who were of Indian origin and special approval was not required for such an event.
Below is an advertisement published by Ballys Casino inviting Indian customers to grab their special offer and get a free flight to Colombo and back from 16th to 19th September.
Communication Manager – Airport and Aviation Services (Pvt) Ltd
Explaining further on such in-flight entertainment acts, Dr. Sumith De Silva, the communication manager of the Airport and Aviation Services (Pvt) Ltd. said that it is not unusual for such incidents to happen during a chartered flight.
He also highlighted that it doesn’t mean that anything could be done inside a chartered flight and depending on the category of the chartered flight there would be certain restrictions as well. But Sumith said that on the whole, many airlines do not implement strict regulations regarding the incidents that take place inside chartered flights.
There are several types of chartered flights such as Private Charter, Public Charter, Affinity Charter and Cargo Charter. You can read more about it here. Archived
Here is a description of a fashion show that took place on a chartered flight in a foreign country. Here is another video of an in-flight fashion show in a private charter, where a bridal line had been launched.
However, traveling in a chartered flight does not give the permission to override the existing laws of a country or international laws. The rules that apply in normal commercial flights do not apply to a chartered flight as well. You can read more details about it from here. Archived
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Title:Find out the facts behind this model show inside a Sri Lankan Airlines flight!
By: Kalana KrishanthaResult: Explainer
