Africa’s cheapest low-cost carrier, and number 5 on a global scale, has just announced their month-on-month financial and operational data.
The company, Fastjet, is listed on the London Stock Exchange as Fastjet PLC and must, therefore, meet stringent standards of publishing regular financial updates. For the month of June 2014, the airline reported an increase in passenger numbers by 24 percent over the previous month, with an average load factor of 79 percent. Year-on-year, however, passenger numbers have nearly doubled in June from 27,385 in 2013 to 53,386.
Capacity has since last month risen by 12 percent overall, mainly as a result of more flights to Mbeya where the number of seats was raised by 37 percent after main rival Precision Air temporarily withdrew from the route. Mwanza saw the number of available seats rise by 16 percent during the same period.
The 12-month comparison also shows a sharp upwards trend as passenger numbers more than doubled from the 2012/13 period’s 195,758 to 434,179 during the same period in 2013/14, a rise by 122 percent.
These figures affirm that Fastjet is now a market leader in Tanzania by a significant margin, a trend likely to continue as Harare will come online in early August as the airline’s third international destination.
Regular sources have also suggested that once Fastjet has been granted an air service license in Kenya, an accelerated rollout in the region is likely with added connections between Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Entebbe, a move which will no doubt shake up the industry and in particular reduce the level of airfares charged on these routes.
