A Sri Lankan court on Monday revoked an order preventing the departure of an Aeroflot Airbus A330 aircraft held at the country's main international airport over a commercial dispute.
Air traffic controllers had denied clearance for flight SU289 to return to Moscow on Thursday following an order from the same court grounding the aircraft for two weeks.
A case had been filed against Aeroflot by Celestial Aviation Trading 10 Limited of Ireland over an undisclosed amount due to it the Russian carrier.
The seizure of the aircraft led to a diplomatic spat, with Moscow summoning Sri Lanka's top envoy to the Russian foreign ministry on Friday to hear a "resolute protest" over the detention.
Airport and Aviation Services, which runs the Bandaranaike International Airport, said in a statement the dispute was "purely of a commercial nature" and should not be subject to state involvement.
But on Monday the state attorney general moved to have the case heard two days ahead of schedule and pleaded for the aircraft to be allowed to fly back.
Aeroflot suspended all its international flights in March following tough Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine but resumed operations to Colombo the following month.
Russia's civil aviation body had recommended airlines operating rental planes registered in foreign countries cease international flights to avoid their seizure.
