FitsAir
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...
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| Founded | 1997 (as Expo Aviation) | ||||||
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| Hubs | |||||||
| Focus cities | |||||||
| Fleet size | 4 | ||||||
| Destinations | 3 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Colombo, Sri Lanka | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
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 recommenced in February 2020 with 3 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 was abled to induct three A320-200 aircraft, which are dry-leased for passenger operations. In 5th 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 26th March 2023. In 20th February 2023, airline launched Colombo (CMB) to Chennai (MAA) service. In May 2023, the airline was abled to cross first 50,000 passenger mark since their scheduled passenger service started in October 2022. [3]
Destinations
Expo flies to the following services to scheduled domestic and international destinations:
| [H] | Hub |
| [F] | Future destination |
| ^ | Passenger + Cargo |
| [C] | Freighter aircraft only |
| [T] | Terminated destination |
Fleet
The FitsAir fleet includes the following aircraft
| Aircraft | Total | Orders | Passengers (Economy) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 3 | 0 | C8Y156 | 4R-EXQ, 4R-EXS, 4R-EXR |
| Airbus A330-200 | 1 | - | To be delivered by the end of the year 2023 | |
| ATR 72-200 | 1 | - | 70 | 4R-EXN |
| Cessna 208B Grand Caravan | 1 | - | 12 | 4R-EXO Wet leased by David Peiris Aviation |
| Cessna 152 | 1 | - | - | Operated by FitsAir Flight Academy. 4R-FAB |
| Cessna 150 | 1 | - | - | Delivered in March 2023 for FitsAir Flight Academy. |
| Total | 7 | - |
Historical fleet
| Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antonov An-8 | 2 | - | 4R-EXA[4]
4R-EXB | |
| Antonov An-12B | 1 | - | 4R-EXC[5] | |
| Antonov An-24RV | 1 | - | EX-24808[6] | |
| Fokker F27 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4R-EXF[7]
4R-EXG[8] 4R-EXK[9] 4R-EXH 4R-MRA |
| Ilyushin IL-18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4R-EXD
UR-CFR EX-005 |
| Douglas DC-8-63CF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4R-EXJ |
| Cessna 208B Grand Caravan | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4R-EXP (ex- 4R-EXL) |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-82(SF) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4R-EXM |
| Airbus A321-200 | 1 | 0 | LY-VEH |
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.
External links
References
- Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka Archived October 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine 11 April 2005
- "FitsAir expands with scheduled flights". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. 2019-03-10. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- "FitsAir crosses first 50,000 passengers mark". DailyFT. 2023-05-09. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
- https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000862803.html
- https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/6122899
- https://www.pbase.com/image/116183226
- Registration Details For 4R-EXF on planelogger.org
- Registration Details For 4R-EXK on planelogger.org
- Registration Details For 4R-EXK on planelogger.org
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| Defunct | |