Dr. Arosha Fernando appointed as CEO of third airline operator in Sri Lanka

The Board of Directors of the third airline operator in Sri Lanka, Fly Lankan Asia Ltd., has announced the appointment of Dr. Arosha Fernando as the new Chief Executive Officer. 

Once certified, Fly Lankan Asia will be Sri Lanka’s third scheduled international operator after national carrier, SriLankan Airlines and FitsAir, which is primarily an international cargo airline that also has some domestic passenger services. The only other domestic scheduled operator is Cinnamon Air.

Fly Lankan Asia is seeking to fly internationally to Jeddah and Madina in Saudi Arabia, Medan, Jakarta, Semarang, Madina, Surabaya and Makassar in Indonesia, and Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia as a regional operator. 

Dr. Arosha Fernando has 28 years of senior management experience in local and international business field and currently the Chairman, MD and CEO of five other companies in Sri Lanka. 

Fernando was the Chairman of Verazo Holdings Ltd., Deputy Chairman of World Capital Centre, Group Director of MTD Walkers PLC, Board Member and the Working Director of ITN TV Channel and Lakhanda Radio Channel, Senior Consultant at Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation, Senior Consultant at the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka to name few of the senior positions held.

Fernando who has pioneered in bringing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Sri Lanka as well as specialised in the media, telecommunications and apparel sectors is expected to play a leading role in the Sri Lanka’s aviation sector in time to come.

He has six university degrees from Australia – two Bachelor’s degrees, three Master’s degrees and a Doctorate, the only Sri Lanka with such a high number of academic qualifications. This includes Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) and Bachelor of Business (B. Bus.) in Marketing as well as Bachelor of Business (B. Bus.) in Human Resources Management from Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia and Master of Business Administration (MBA) major in International Business Management, Master of Project Management (MPM) and Master of Engineering major in Telecommunications Engineering (M. Eng.) from RMIT University, in Melbourne, Australia.

Fernando is also a Senior Film Producer and has produced 17 films, five tele dramas and two stage plays, a total of 24 productions to his credit during the past eight years.