Govt. demands SriLankan’s fair share

Sri Lanka is now tipped to demand that Emirates management of the national carrier return the General Sales Agency, which it moved to Dubai in the late 90s, back to Colombo and also stop all unfair pricing practices in any new management deal with the West Asian carrier, informed aviation sources said.

Under a highly disadvantageous code sharing arrangement, they said the Emirates management had always left the local carrier holding the short end of the stick and Sri Lanka was now attempting to get an equal share of whatever new partnership.

Sources said Sri Lanka was not a dead loss without Emirates as some parties have tried to make out. Due to the country’s close links to the sub-continent it has been able to break into the fast growing Indian market in a big way, which already accounts for at least 40 per cent of its revenue. SriLankan already operates 100 flights per week to some 11 Indian destinations. This was while it is almost impossible for Emirates to enter the Indian market on its own.

On Wednesday evening when Emirates President Tim Clark and Director Garry Chapman met a Sri Lankan Government delegation in Colombo comprising President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera and Ports and Aviation Ministry Secretary Tissa Collure, the former team is said to have brought a set of proposals and had wanted an immediate reply to it. The Sri Lankan delegation had refused to give such immediate replies without properly studying it, sources said.

Mr. Weeratunga contacted in this regard refused to go into details and said no final decision has been taken either way so far.