This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

FitsAir

IATA ICAO Callsign 8D EXV EXPOAVIA
Founded	1997; 27 years ago (1997) (as Expo Aviation)
Hubs	Bandaranaike International Airport Ratmalana Airport
Focus cities	Dubai Malé Chennai Dhaka
Fleet size	4
Destinations	3
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...

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

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

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

FitsAir flies to the following services to scheduled domestic and international destinations:

City	Country	IATA	ICAO	Airport	Refs
Bengaluru	India	BLR	VOBL	Kempegowda International Airport
Bangkok	Thailand	BKK	VTBS	Suvarnabhumi Airport
Chennai	India	MAA	VOMM	Chennai International Airport
Colombo	Sri Lanka	CMB	VCBI	Bandaranaike International Airport
Colombo	Sri Lanka	RML	VCCC	Ratmalana Airport
Dhaka	Bangladesh	DAC	VGHS	Shahjalal International Airport
Dubai	United Arab Emirates	DXB	OMDB	Dubai International Airport
Jaffna	Sri Lanka	JAF	VCCJ	Jaffna International Airport
Jakarta	Indonesia	CGK	WIII	Soekarno–Hatta International Airport|
Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	JED	OEJN	King Abdulaziz International Airport
Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	KUL	WMKK	Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Lahore	Pakistan	LHE	OPLA	Allama Iqbal International Airport
Malé	Maldives	MLE	VRMM	Velana International Airport
Mumbai	India	BOM	VABB	Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	SHJ	OMSJ	Sharjah International Airport
Singapore	Singapore	SIN	WSSS	Changi Airport
Thiruvananthapuram	India	TRV	VOTV	Trivandrum International Airport
Tiruchirappalli	India	TRZ	VOTR	Tiruchirappalli Airport
Visakhapatnam	India	VTZ	VOVZ	Visakhapatnam Airport^

Fleet

(L-R) FitsAir Cessna 208B Grand Caravan and Airbus A320-232

Historical fleetedit

Other businessedit

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.

Referencesedit

• 1