Transport in Sri Lanka is based on its road network, which is centred on the country's commercial capital Colombo. A rail network handles a portion of Sri Lanka's transport needs. There are navigable waterways, harbours and three international airports: in Katunayake, 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Colombo, in Hambantota, and in Jaffna.
Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa was the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 to his assassination in 1993. Before that, he served as the Prime minister of Sri Lanka from 6 February 1978 to 2 January 1989. Premadasa is considered as the longest serving uninterrupted Prime Minister of Sri Lanka by serving in that post for nearly 11 years. He was the first person conferred Sri Lanka's highest civilian award Sri Lankabhimanya in 1986 by President J. R. Jayewardene.
SriLankan Airlines is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka and a member airline of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is currently the largest airline in Sri Lanka by number of aircraft and destinations and was launched in 1979 as Air Lanka following the termination of operations of the original Sri Lankan flag carrier Air Ceylon.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019, and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.
Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) (Sinhala: බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ, romanized: Bandāranāyaka Jātyantara Guvantoṭupaḷa; Tamil: பண்டாரநாயக்க சர்வதேச விமான நிலையம், romanized: Paṇṭāranāyakka Carvatēca Vimāṉa Nilaiyam) (commonly known as Colombo International Airport, Colombo–Bandaranaike International Airport, and locally as Katunayake International Airport) (IATA: CMB, ICAO: VCBI) is the main international airport serving Sri Lanka. It is named after former Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike (1899–1959) and is in the suburb of Negombo, 32.5 kilometres (20+1⁄4 miles) north of the nation's capital and commercial center, Colombo.
Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is a former Sri Lankan politician and military officer, who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022 due to months of public anger. He previously served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Major General Janaka Perera, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP, VSP was a Sri Lankan General and politician. He served as the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army and is considered one of the most distinguished generals in Sri Lankan history. After retiring from the army he served as a Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia and Ambassador to Indonesia. He was the opposition leader of the North Central Provincial Council until he and his wife were killed on 6 October 2008 by a suicide bomber. The LTTE have been blamed for the bombing by Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Mahindananda Aluthgamage is a Sri Lankan politician and a former Minister of Sports. He has also served as Deputy Minister of Power and Energy. He is currently serving as the state minister of Power and Energy.
Unnanthi Piyankara Jayaratne, MP is a Sri Lankan politician and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Basil Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan-American politician. He is a former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the national list.
Harsha de Silva is a Sri Lankan economist and politician. He is a Member of Parliament for the Colombo District and former Non-Cabinet Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution; State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs; and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is a member of Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
Attanayake Mudiyanselage Kithsiri Senarath Bandara Attanayake known as Senarath Attanayake was a Sri Lankan politician and lawyer.
Dilith Susantha Jayaweera is a Sri Lankan Businessman, Entrepreneur, Media mogul, Lawyer and Politician. In 2011, he was named by the LMD as one of the ten ‘Business People of the Year’. In 2020, Dilith Jayaweera was among 100 corporate leaders named by the LMD on its A-list of businesspeople who continue to drive the engine of growth in Sri Lanka. He is the Chairman of George Steuart & Co., Sri Lanka's oldest mercantile establishment and Derana, one of Sri Lanka's largest media networks. He entered Politics officially in September 2023, and was appointed the leader of the Mawbima Janatha Party.
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is a Sri Lankan academic, geopolitics and foreign policy analyst. He is a political columnist and author. He is a visiting professor for geopolitics and global leadership at Northern Kentucky University and a visiting lecturer in International Political Economy for The University of London in Sri Lanka Royal Institute of Colombo and teaches at the International Security at University of Colombo. Abeyagoonasekera has more than a decade of experience in government administration, serving as the head of several government institutions to positions at the board level. His commentaries on International Relations and Geopolitics are published by Observer Research Foundation New Delhi, London School of Economics and South Asia Journal. Abeyagoonasekera writes the monthly column Dateline Colombo for IPCS think tank in New Delhi.
Rajapakse Mohottige Don Suranimala Rajapaksha was a Sri Lankan politician. Rajapaksha was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1994 and he was the Minister of School Education in Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in 2001 to 2004. He was a member of the United National Party (UNP) and a member of UNP Working Committee. He was also appointed as the Coordinating secretary to the prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2015. At the time of his death he acted as the special envoy (representative) to the Prime Minister. His younger son Kanishka Rajapaksha was also appointed as the Coordinating Assistant to the Prime Minister after the death of Rajapaksha. Kanishka is an Attorney at Law in his profession.
Deshabandu Arumadura Nandasena Silva Kulasinghe (1919-2006) was a Sri Lankan Civil Engineer and founder of several engineering organisations in Sri Lanka.
Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) (Sinhala: මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ, romanized: Mattala Rājapakṣa Jātyantara Guvantoṭupaḷa; Tamil: மத்தல ராஜபக்ஷ சர்வதேச விமானநிலையம், romanized: Mattala Rājapakṣa Carvatēca Vimāṉanilaiyam) (IATA: HRI, ICAO: VCRI) is an international airport serving southeast Sri Lanka. It is located in the town of Mattala, 18 km (11 mi) from Hambantota. It is the first greenfield airport and the third international airport in the country, after Ratmalana International Airport and Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo.
On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller explosions occurred at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people were killed, including at least 45 foreign nationals, three police officers, and eight suicide bombers. An additional 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo; the hotels bombed included the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn. According to the State Intelligence Service, a second wave of attacks was planned, but was prevented due to government raids.
Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo, trading as Trans Asia Hotels PLC, is a five-star luxury hotel located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The hotel is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange and John Keells Holdings owns a stake of 92% of the company's shares, 48% directly and 43% through its subsidiary Asian Hotels and Properties PLC. Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo has 346 rooms including 20 suites.
