Air Lanka, which was state-owned, was partially privatized in 1998, with investment by -based , when Emirates and the Sri Lankan government signed an agreement for a ten-year strategic partnership. This agreement included exclusive rights for all aircraft ground handling and airline catering at Colombo-Bandaranaike airport for ten years. Emirates bought a 40% stake worth US$70 million (which it later increased to 43.6%) in Air Lanka and sought to refurbish the airline's image and fleet. The government retained a majority stake in the airline but gave full control to Emirates for investment and management decisions. In 1998, the Air Lanka re-branded to SriLankan Airlines.
SriLankan acquired 6 to complement its fleet of and aircraft. The A330-200 aircraft joined the airline between October 1999 and July 2000. The company's fourth A340-300 arrived at Colombo painted in the airline's new corporate livery. SriLankan upgraded its existing A340 fleet into a two-class configuration (business and economy class) whilst overhauling the interior to reflect the new corporate image.
The airline gradually increased its number of destinations with more additions for regional markets, notably and the . Whilst continuing expansion in the region, SriLankan commenced flying to , its third destination in Saudi Arabia, after and , thus increasing the number of destinations in the Middle East to nine. became the airline's 51st destination overall.
In 2008, Emirates notified the Sri Lankan Government that it would not renew its management contract, which then expired on 31 March 2008. It claimed that the Sri Lankan Government was seeking greater control over the day-to-day management of the airline. Emirates sold its 43.63% stake in the airline to the in a deal that was finalized in 2010, thus ending any affiliations the two airlines had with each other.
In 2008 when Emirates pulled out, the accumulated profit of SriLankan was Rs. 9.288 billion in that financial year. From 2008 to 2015, when the government administration ran it, the loss for the seven years was Rs. 128.238 billion (US$875 million).
Following the ownership transfer, SriLankan took the decision to promote Colombo as a hub for flights to Asia. The first destination of the expansion plan was ; the route was initiated on 1 July 2010. The airline commenced flights to on 28 January 2011.
SriLankan joined the alliance on 1 May 2014. During 2014 it started to renew and increase its fleet, with purchases of Airbus A330 & A350 models. Currently, SriLankan operates an all-Airbus fleet except for its discontinued Air-Taxi services. SriLankan phased out their last on 7 January 2016 with its last scheduled flight from to .
The airline terminated three European routes – Frankfurt, and Rome – by end of 2016.
The airline absorbed the operations of sister carrier in October 2016, in a bid to create a single stronger national airline for Sri Lanka. Accordingly, SriLankan took over two of Mihin Lanka's aircraft and absorbed all of its route networks. This move added ten new destinations to SriLankan's route network.
In October 2017, SriLankan launched direct daily non-stop flights to , Australia, its first new long haul route in over five years and the most ambitious expansion to date. The flights restore a regular direct air link between Australia and Sri Lanka after a hiatus of 16 years.
Eyes of the Insane
"Eyes of the Insane" is a song by American thrash metal band Slayer. The song was released in November 23, 2006. It was the second single on their ninth studio album "Christ Illusion". The song is based on an article in "Texas Monthly" entitled "Casualty of War". The lyrics explore the mental torment of an American soldier after he returns home from the second Gulf War.
On the music charts, "Eyes of the Insane" was able to peak at #15 on Tracklisten and #97 on the UK Singles charts.
In 2007, the song won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Metal Performance. Vocalist Tom Araya commented on the win, saying: "Jeff [Hanneman] and I put a lot into 'Eyes of the Insane' so we're thrilled that the Grammy voters took the time to listen to it, and then vote for it. We're out here on the road and we're all really, really happy."
Oleg Bryjak
Oleg Bryzhak (October 27, 1960 – March 24, 2015) was a Kazakhstani-German bass-baritone opera singer. He was born in Jezkazgan, Kazakh SSR.
Bryzhak had been a protodeacon in an Ukrainian Orthodox church in Krefeld.
Bryzhak died on March 24, 2015 along with fellow singer Maria Radner in the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash in France. He was returning from performances of Richard Wagner's "Siegfried" at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.
Bill Slayback
William Grover "Bill" Slayback (February 21, 1948 – March 25, 2015) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He appeared in 42 games, 17 as a starter for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1972 until 1974. He later became a musician and singer-songwriter, releasing several singles such as "Move Over Babe (Here Comes Henry)".
Slayback was born in Hollywood, California. He had two daughters, Samantha and Kelli.
Slayback died on March 25, 2015 at his home in La Crescenta-Montrose, California, aged 67. He had been ill for some years before his death.
LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470
LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470 was a scheduled international passenger flight by carrier LAM Mozambique Airlines from Maputo International Airport of Maputo, Mozambique. It crashed on 29 November 2013 into the Bwabwata National Park in northern Namibia en route to Quatro de Fevereiro Airport of Luanda, Angola. The wreckage of the aircraft was found the next day. All 27 passengers and six crew members were killed. It was later found out that the aircraft was crashed on purpose by the pilot, Herminio dos Santos Fernandes, in an act of murder–suicide.
All crew members and ten passengers were from Mozambique, nine from Angola, five from Portugal, one from France, one from Brazil, and one from China.
Michael Brandner
Michael Brandner ( born 13 February 1995) is a football player from Austria. He plays for F. C. Liefering, the second team of F.C. Red Bull Salzburg, in the SKY GO Erste Liga (2nd level in Austrian football) as midfielder.
He started playing football for ASK Salzburg . Then he went on to the Red Bull youth academy, where he played in all teams. For the 2013/14 season he was transferred to FC Liefering. In 2016 he went on loan to SV Ried, 2017 he went to SC Wiener Neustadt. 2019 he joined FC Blau-Weiß Linz, where he is still playing.
Michael Brandner also played for the Autrian football national youth teams from U16 up to U20. With the U19 team he reached the 3rd place in the European Championship.
José Ron
José Ron (born Édgar José Ron Vázquez, August 8, 1981 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico), is a Mexican actor known for his performances in telenovelas, series and theater. Ron promotes the animal rights, he efforts to stop the hunt and human abuse of animals. He is also involved in nature and environmental causes, as planting trees and raise awareness to people about that.
Gentile Bellini
Gentile Bellini (c. 1429 – February 23, 1507) was an Italian painter. From 1474 he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice.
Stephan's Quintet
Stephan's Quintet is in the constellation Pegasus. It is a visual grouping of five galaxies of which four are the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The group is about 280 million light years from Earth.
The group was discovered by Édouard Stephan in 1877 at Marseille Observatory.
The group is the most studied of all the compact galaxy groups. The brightest member of the visual grouping is NGC 7320. This has extensive H II regions, seen here as red blobs, where active star formation is occurring.