Closing Srilankan (rumour)
The Management at Srilankan Airlines were indeed thinking of this. The plan was to close Srilankan Airlines down and with fresh capital to start a new airline (most likely under the name Airlanka).
But the desert boys EK said "No can do"!! Having 43% stake in the airline, they insisted that if the sneaky plan goes ahead, then EK would claim that amount from Srilankan's assets.
In effect, with 43% less in capital to start the new airline, the plan went dead.