FitsAir

FitsAir
Founded	1997; 28 years ago (as Expo Aviation)
Hubs	Bandaranaike International Airport; Ratmalana Airport;
Focus cities	Dubai; Malé; Chennai; Dhaka;
Fleet size	3
Destinations	4
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.

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

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

Country	City	Airport	Notes	Ref.
Armenia	Yerevan	Zvartnots International Airport	Seasonal	^[4]
Bangladesh	Dhaka	Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport	Passenger	^[5]
India	Bangalore	Kempegowda International Airport	Planned	^[6]
	Chennai	Chennai International Airport	Passenger	^[7]
	Trichy	Tiruchirappalli International Airport	Planned	^[6]
Indonesia	Jakarta	Soekarno–Hatta International Airport	Planned	^[6]
Kuwait	Kuwait City	Kuwait International Airport	Planned	^[6]
Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	Kuala Lumpur International Airport	Planned	^[6]
Maldives	Malé	Velana International Airport	Passenger
Pakistan	Lahore	Allama Iqbal International Airport	Cargo
Sri Lanka	Anuradhapura	Anuradhapura Airport	Charter	^[8]
	Batticaloa	Batticaloa International Airport	Charter	^[8]
	Colombo	Bandaranaike International Airport	Hub
	Colombo	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]
Saudi Arabia	Jeddah	King Abdulaziz International Airport	Planned	^[6]
Saudi Arabia	Riyadh	King Khalid International Airport	Planned	^[6]
Singapore	Singapore	Changi Airport	Planned	^[6]
Thailand	Bangkok	Suvarnabhumi Airport	Planned	^[6]
UAE	Dubai	Dubai International Airport	Passenger + Cargo	^[10]^[6]
	Fujairah	Fujairah International Airport	Seasonal	^[4]
	Sharjah	Sharjah International Airport	Seasonal	^[4]

Fleet

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

**FitsAir**
Aircraft	Total	Orders	Passengers (Economy)	Remarks
Airbus A320-200	3	-	C8 Y156	4R-EXQ, 4R-EXR, 4R-EXS
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan	1	-	12	4R-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
Total	6	-

Historical fleet

**FitsAir Mainline Historical Fleet**
Aircraft	Introduced	Retired	Passengers	Notes
Antonov An-8	3	3		4R-EXA,^[11] 4R-EXB, 3C-ZZO^[12]
Antonov An-12B	1	1	0	4R-EXC^[13]
Antonov An-24RV	1	1		EX-24808^[14]
Fokker F27	3	3	52	4R-EXG,^[15] 4R-EXH, 4R-EXK (ex- 4R-MRA, 4R-EXF)^[16]
Ilyushin Il-18	3	3	0	4R-EXD, UR-CFR, EX-005^[17]
Douglas DC-8-63CF	1	1	0	4R-EXJ
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan	2	1	12	4R-EXP (ex- 4R-EXL)
McDonnell Douglas MD-82(SF)	1	1	0	4R-EXM
Airbus A321-200	1	1	0	LY-VEH
ATR 72-200	1	1	66	4R-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.