Emirates team here tomorrow for crucial talks on SriLankan deal

A top level team from Emirates Airline is expected in Colombo tomorrow for discussions with the government on extending SriLankan Airlines management deal.

Dubai-government owned Emirates has a ten year contract ending in March 2008 to manage the Sri Lankan national carrier. Coupled with the management deal, the then government also sold a 43 percent equity stake in SriLankan to Emirates in 1998. Aviation sources said the government delegation at the talks would include two British experts and Sachin Vaas Gunawardena, who heads the newly formed Mihin Air.

The latter’s inclusion has raised some eyebrows as Mihin is building up to be a competitor to Sri Lankan. The composition of the government delegation, however, could not be independently verified at the time of going to the press.

Emirates are known to drive hard bargains. When the United National Front came to office in 2001 threatening to review the deal signed by the Chandrika Kumaratunga regime, Emirates President Tim Clark simply insisted that “a deal is a deal” and state lawyers had to back down.

Mr. Clark has already been quoted as stating that the government’s creation of the new airline, Mihin Air was an issue for Emirates and that it was up to the Sri Lankan government, struggling to cope with the intensifying separatist war, to persuade the West Asian airline to continue the management arrangement.