A group of high officials from Sri Lanka’s civil aviation sector met Emirates Airline’s incumbent Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tim Clark in Dubai recently for consultations to develop the island’s aviation services and its allied industries, said very reliable sources.

The main objective of this meeting was to draw up a policy to develop the island’s aviation services and its allied industries from Tim Clark who has wide experience in the airlines sector.

It is also learned that following these discussions Tim Clark has agreed to visit Colombo for further discussions on this issue.

Tim Clark was the Managing Director of SriLankan Airlines till 2008 when the national carrier was managed by Emirates Airlines.

He is a Graduate in Economics from the University of London.

While SriLankan, the national airlines recorded a huge loss of Rs. 29 billion during 2014, the losses incurred so far after the agreement with Emirates Airlines was cancelled in 2008 has been Rs. 122 billion.

However, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s annual report for 2014 states that though the revenue of SriLankan Airlines had grown by 5.5 per cent to Rs. 115.5 billion during last year (2014), its expenditure had grown more to Rs. 144.4 billion.