After months of the deal appearing to be in limbo, Emirates Airline will likely renew its management role with SriLankan Airlines, according to a Gulf News report quoting Maurice Flanagan, Emirates vice-chairman and group president.
“The issue is under discussion with the Sri Lankan government, and it looks likely the contract will be extended,” he said, speaking at an aviation conference in Vancouver.
Emirates owns a 43 per cent stake in Sri Lanka’s national carrier and also manages the airline under a 10-year contract, which expires in March 2008. The Colombo-based airline is majority owned by the Sri Lankan government. This week, the airline announced that its net profit last year was Dh67 million ($19 million), an increase of 48 per cent from the Dh45.6 million it reaped in 2005.
Emirates, the eighth largest carrier by international traffic, often fuels speculation that it will acquire foreign carriers, but its partial ownership in SriLankan has been its only foreign investment.