Dubai: Two top executives of Emirates are due in Colombo on Wednesday to negotiate with government officials the renewal of the Dubai-based airline's management contract for SriLankan - the country's flag carrier, a Colombo newspaper reported.
The talks have dragged on for about 18 months but became complicated some days ago when Colombo revoked the work permit of SriLankan airline's British chief executive officer Peter Hill, an Emirates man, in a row over seats for President Mahinda Rajapakse and his entourage on a London-Colombo flight.
Hill, 62, who is married to a Sri Lankan, left for Dubai on Thursday, a day before the government deadline, Sri Lanka's Sunday Times newspaper said on its website on Sunday.
It said Emirates has served a notice on the Sri Lankan government containing "demands," which the paper did not specify.
Emirates has said Hill will continue to head SriLankan until the management contract expires in March 2008.
Emirates President Tim Clark accompanied by Group Services and Dnata President Gary Chapman "are due in Colombo on Wednesday for what some aviation sources term as make-or-break talks with the Sri Lankan government on the renewal of its existing 10-year management contract," paper said.
"We cannot discuss details of the contract nor of the negotiations," an Emirates spokesperson said when Gulf News sought a response.
Emirates has a 43.6 per cent stake in SriLankan and fully manages the airline, while the Sri Lanka government owns 51 per cent.
Unnamed aviation experts quoted by the paper suggested that the Emirates-Lanka agreement is "lopsided."
One clause in the management contract is said to be that if the agreement is not renewed and the Sri Lankan government does not buy back the stake held by Emirates at the end of March, the Dubai carrier "automatically gets to manage the airline for a further five years."
