FitsAir

Last updated
FitsAir
Fitsair logo.png
IATA ICAO Callsign
8DEXVEXPOAVIA
Founded1997;27 years ago (1997) (as Expo Aviation)
Hubs
Focus cities
Fleet size4
Destinations3
Headquarters Colombo, Sri Lanka
Website www.fitsair.com

FITS Aviation (Pvt) Limited, DBA FitsAir (formerly known as ExpoAir), is a Sri Lankan airline. It operates scheduled passenger services within Sri Lanka, as well as international cargo flights to several cities in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and also operates charter flights to India. The company slogan is Friend In The Skies.FitsAir is a subsidiary of Aberdeen Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, a diversified conglomerate headquartered in Sri Lanka.

Contents

ExpoAir was the first airline in Sri Lanka to be certified under the International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO) annex requirements, as well as being the first domestic airline to be certified by the Department of Civil Aviation to commence flights to Jaffna.

History

Former logo of FitsAir FitsAir logo.png
Former logo of FitsAir
Expo Air's DC-8 at Mauritius. (2006) Expo Air Douglas DC-8-63CF Rioux.jpg
Expo Air's DC-8 at Mauritius. (2006)

Expo Aviation was established in 1997, with operations commencing in 1998 using 2 Antonov An-8 aircraft, which were later replaced by An-12s.

In 2001, Expo Aviation started domestic operations to Jaffna using Ilyushin Il-18 and Antonov An-26 aircraft. Soon after this, the airline was renamed ExpoAir.

The next year, in 2002, the airline leased 3 Fokker F27 aircraft from Oman Air. An additional IL-18 started operating in 2003, and ExpoAir launched cabin crew training in 2004.

In 2005, Expo Air applied to the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) to operate international air cargo services to Malé, Mumbai, Tiruchirapalli, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Vizag, Kochi, Bangalore, Chennai, Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Kathmandu, Chittagong, Dhaka, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Jeddah, Beirut, and Cairo, as well as various cities in Australia, Africa, and Europe, with the short-haul routes utilizing the Airbus A320 and long-haul routes utilizing the Airbus A330 and Airbus A340 models. [1] In 2006, ExpoAir added a Douglas DC-8 to its fleet and sold a Fokker 27.

Starting in January 2012, Expo Air relaunched its scheduled passenger flights from Ratmalana Airport to Jaffna Airport with a brand-new Cessna 208 Caravan. The aircraft has 12 seats and passengers are able to reach Jaffna in less than 1 hour.

In 2019, the airline expanded its domestic operations by introducing scheduled flights from Colombo to Batticaloa. [2]

Scheduled domestic operations to Jaffna resumed in February 2020 with three flights weekly operated on their ATR 72-200.

In November 2020, the airline leased a former Thomas Cook Airbus A321 modified to carry cargo to operate nonstop flights to Dubai.

In 2021, the airline got three A320-200 aircraft, which are dry-leased for passenger operations. On 5 October 2022, Fitsair ceremonially started its very-first scheduled, commercial passenger flights, launching Colombo (CMB) to Dubai (DXB). Later, this service was launched as a daily service due to higher demand from 26 March 2023. On 20 February 2023, airline launched Colombo (CMB) to Chennai (MAA) service. In May 2023, the airline crossed the 50,000 passenger mark for the first time since their scheduled passenger service started in October 2022. [3]

Destinations

FitsAir serves 7 domestic destinations and 7 international destinations in 5 countries, as of September 2024.

FitsAir Airbus A320s parked at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo FitsAir A320s at Colombo airport.jpg
FitsAir Airbus A320s parked at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo
CountryCityAirportNotesRef.
Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia Yerevan Zvartnots International Airport Seasonal [4]
Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Passenger [5]
Flag of India.svg  India Bangalore Kempegowda International Airport Planned [6]
Chennai Chennai International Airport Passenger [7]
Trichy Tiruchirappalli International Airport Planned [6]
Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia Jakarta Soekarno–Hatta International Airport Planned [6]
Flag of Kuwait.svg  Kuwait Kuwait City Kuwait International Airport Planned [6]
Flag of Malaysia 23px.svg  Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur International Airport Planned [6]
Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives Malé Velana International Airport Passenger
Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan Lahore Allama Iqbal International Airport Cargo
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka Anuradhapura Anuradhapura Airport Charter [8]
Batticaloa Batticaloa International Airport Charter [8]
Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport Hub
Ratmalana Airport Hub
Hambantota Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport Charter [8]
Jaffna Jaffna International Airport Passenger + Cargo [9]
Koggala Koggala Airport Charter [8]
Sigiriya Sigiriya Airport Charter [8]
Trincomalee China Bay Airport Charter [8]
Vavuniya Vavuniya Airport Charter [8]
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport Planned [6]
Riyadh King Khalid International Airport Planned [6]
Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore Singapore Changi Airport Planned [6]
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Planned [6]
Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  UAE Dubai Dubai International Airport Passenger + Cargo [10] [6]
Fujairah Fujairah International Airport Seasonal [4]
Sharjah Sharjah International Airport Seasonal [4]

Fleet

4R-EXO Cessna 208 Caravan EX.jpg
4R-EXR Airbus A320-232.jpg
(L-R) FitsAir Cessna 208B Grand Caravan and Airbus A320-232
FitsAir
AircraftTotalOrdersPassengers
(Economy)		Remarks
Airbus A320-200 3- C8 Y1564R-EXQ, 4R-EXR, 4R-EXS
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan 1-124R-EXO Wet leased by David Peiris Aviation
Cessna 152 1--4R-FAB Operated by FitsAir Flight Academy
Cessna 150 1--Operated by FitsAir Flight Academy
Total6-

Historical fleet

FitsAir Mainline Historical Fleet
AircraftIntroducedRetiredPassengersNotes
Antonov An-8 334R-EXA, [11] 4R-EXB, 3C-ZZO [12]
Antonov An-12B 1104R-EXC [13]
Antonov An-24RV 11EX-24808 [14]
Fokker F27 33524R-EXG, [15] 4R-EXH, 4R-EXK (ex- 4R-MRA, 4R-EXF) [16]
Ilyushin Il-18 3304R-EXD, UR-CFR, EX-005 [17]
Douglas DC-8-63CF 1104R-EXJ
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan 21124R-EXP (ex- 4R-EXL)
McDonnell Douglas MD-82(SF) 1104R-EXM
Airbus A321-200 110LY-VEH
ATR 72-200 11664R-EXN [18]

Other business

ExpoAir has a leasing arm that wet- and dry-leases aircraft to third parties. In 2005, an F27 was dry-leased to Pakistan International Airlines, and in 2006, the airline wet-leased a Douglas DC-8-63CF to Air Mauritius. In 2007, it dry-leased another F27 aircraft to Mihin Lanka. In 2008, it wet-leased a Beech Super King Air 200 from South Africa and sub-leased the aircraft to the UN arm of WFP for operations in Sri Lanka. In August 2014 Dimonim Air (Indonesia) leased the sole ATR 72-200, (PK-HVH), belonging to Sri Lankan carrier Fits Air, for use on its internal Indonesian network. An Airbus A320 (4R-EXR) is on Wet leased to Air Arabia Sharjah. Air Arabia is using this on international routes from Sharjah-Karachi-Sharjah with Flight Codes G9548 and G9549.

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References

  1. ↑ Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka Archived October 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine 11 April 2005
  2. ↑ "FitsAir expands with scheduled flights". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. 2019-03-10. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  3. ↑ "FitsAir crosses first 50,000 passengers mark". DailyFT. 2023-05-09. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  4. 1 2 3 "FITSAIR NS24 MALDIVES – ARMENIA OPERATION CHANGES". AeroRoutes.
  5. ↑ "Sri Lanka's FitsAir launches direct flights to Dhaka". The Business Standard. 22 March 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Where We Fly | FitsAir". FitsAir.
  7. ↑ "Sri Lanka's FitsAir launches Colombo-Chennai flight". The Hindu . 21 February 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "FitsAir expands operations with launch of charter and scheduled flights". Daily News . 4 March 2019.
  9. ↑ "FitsAir launches schedule flights to Jaffna". Daily News . 3 February 2020.
  10. ↑ "FitsAir off to a flying start with inaugural flight to Dubai". Ada Derana . 26 September 2022.
  11. ↑ "Aircraft 4R-EXA (Antonov An-8 C/N 0Zh3410) Photo by Andy Graf - VAP (Photo ID: AC862803)". www.airport-data.com. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  12. ↑ "Soviet Database". www.scramble.nl. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  13. ↑ "4R-EXC | Antonov An-12 | Expo Air | propfreak". JetPhotos. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  14. ↑ "AN24 EX-24808 by Chris Doggett". PBase. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  15. ↑ "4R-EXG Expo Aviation Fokker F-27-500 - PlaneLogger - Aircraft Registration & Airline Fleet Listings - PlaneLogger". www.planelogger.com. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  16. ↑ "4R-EXK Expo Air Fokker F-27-500 - PlaneLogger - Aircraft Registration & Airline Fleet Listings - PlaneLogger". www.planelogger.com. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  17. ↑ "Accident Ilyushin Il-18D EX-005,". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  18. ↑ "4R-EXN | ATR 72-202 | Fits Air | Dihain_SL". JetPhotos. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
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