FitsAir

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FitsAir
FitsAir logo
IATA ICAO Callsign
8D EXV EXPOAVIA
Founded 1997 (as Expo Aviation)
Hubs
Focus cities
Fleet size 5
Destinations 13
Company slogan Your Friend in the Skies
Headquarters Colombo, Sri Lanka
Key people Shafik Kassim (Managing Director) Omar Kayaam (CEO)
Website www.fitsair.com

FITS Aviation (Pvt) Limited, DBA FitsAir (formerly known as ExpoAir), is a Sri Lankan airline. It operates scheduled passenger service within Sri Lanka, as well as international cargo flights to several cities in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

ExpoAir was the first airline in Sri Lanka to be certified under the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( 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

File: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.

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
City Country IATA ICAO Airport Refs
Abu Dhabi  United Arab Emirates AUH OMAA Abu Dhabi International Airport[T]
Abu Dhabi  United Arab Emirates DHF OMAM Al Dhafra Air Base[C]
Ampara  Sri Lanka GOY VCCG Ampara Airport
Anuradhapura  Sri Lanka ADP VCCA Anuradhapura Airport
Baghdad  Iraq BGW ORBI Baghdad International Airport[C]
Bagram  Afghanistan OAI OAIX Bagram Air Base[C]
Balad  Iraq ORBD Joint Base Balad[C]
Bangalore  India BLR VOBL Bengaluru International Airport[C]
Bangkok  Thailand BKK VTBS Suvarnabhumi Airport[T]
Batticaloa  Sri Lanka BTC VCCB Batticaloa Airport
Beirut  Lebanon BEY OLBA Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport[T]
Cairo  Egypt CAI HECA Cairo International Airport[T]
Chennai  India MAA VOMM Chennai International Airport[T]
Chittagong  Bangladesh CGP VGEG Shah Amanat International Airport[T]
Colombo  Sri Lanka CMB VCBI Bandaranaike International Airport[H]
Colombo  Sri Lanka RML VCCC Ratmalana Airport[H]
Dhaka  Bangladesh DAC VGHS Shahjalal International Airport[T]
Dubai  United Arab Emirates DXB OMDB Dubai International Airport[C]
Erbil  Iraq EBL ORER Erbil International Airport[C]
Gan Island  Maldives GAN VRMG Gan International Airport[C]
Hambantota  Sri Lanka HRI VCRI Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport
Herat  Afghanistan HEA OAHR Herat International Airport[C]
Hingurakgoda  Sri Lanka Hingurakgoda Airport
Hyderabad  India HYD VOHS Rajiv Gandhi International Airport[T]
Islamabad  Pakistan ISB OPRN Benazir Bhutto International Airport[T]
Jaffna  Sri Lanka JAF VCCJ Jaffna Airport^
Jakarta  Indonesia CGK WIII Soekarno–Hatta International Airport[T]|
Jalalabad  Afghanistan JAA OAJL Jalalabad Airport[C]
Jeddah  Saudi Arabia JED OEJN King Abdulaziz International Airport[T]
Kabul  Afghanistan KBL OAKB Kabul International Airport[C]
Kalutara  Sri Lanka VCCN Katukurunda Airport
Kandahar  Afghanistan KDH OAKN Kandahar International Airport[C]
Karachi  Pakistan KHI OPKC Jinnah International Airport[T]
Kathmandu    Nepal KTM VNKT Tribhuvan International Airport[T]
Kochi  India COK VOCI Cochin International Airport[T]
Koggala  Sri Lanka KCT VCCK Koggala Airport
Kuala Lumpur  Malaysia KUL WMKK Kuala Lumpur International Airport[T]
Lahore  Pakistan LHE OPLA Allama Iqbal International Airport[C]
Lashkar Gah  Afghanistan OAZ OAZI Camp Bastion[C]
Malé  Maldives MLE VRMM Ibrahim Nasir International Airport[C]
Manila  Philippines MNL RPLL Ninoy Aquino International Airport[T]
Mumbai  India BOM VABB Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport[C]
Muscat  Oman MCT OOMS Muscat International Airport[T]
Sharana  Afghanistan OASA Sharana Airstrip[C]
Sharjah  United Arab Emirates SHJ OMSJ Sharjah International Airport[T]
Sigiriya  Sri Lanka Sigiriya Airport
Singapore  Singapore SIN WSSS Changi Airport[T]
Sulaymaniyah  Iraq ISU ORSU Sulaimaniyah International Airport[C]
Tarin Kowt  Afghanistan TII OATN Tarin Kowt Airport[C]
Thiruvananthapuram  India TRV VOTV Trivandrum International Airport[C]
Thumrait  Oman TTH OOTH RAFO Thumrait[C]
Tiruchirappalli  India TRZ VOTR Tiruchirappalli Airport[T]
Trincomalee  Sri Lanka TRR VCCT China Bay Airport
Vavuniya  Sri Lanka Vavuniya Airport
Visakhapatnam  India VTZ VOVZ Visakhapatnam Airport[T]
Weerawila  Sri Lanka WRZ VCCW Weerawila Airport

Fleet

The FitsAir fleet includes the following aircraft:[2]

Expo Air Fleet
Aircraft Total Orders Passengers
(Economy)
Notes
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 1 1 0 4R-EXM (Cargo)
Fokker F27 1 0 0
Ilyushin IL-18 1 0 0 4R-EXD (Cargo)
Douglas DC-8-63CF 1 0 0 4R-EXJ
Cessna Grand Caravan/EX 2 0 12 4R-EXL

cessna caravan Ex

ATR 72-200 1 0 70
Total 7 1

Fleet history

FitsAir Mainline Historical Fleet
Aircraft Introduced Retired Notes
Fokker F27 -
Antonov An-26 - -

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 DC8-63CF 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. On 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

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  2. http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/FitsAir