10th Aug 2015 06:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - fastjet PLC Monday said it carried a record number of passengers in July, surpassing its previous high, set in April, but reported a drop in load factor.
The low-cost airline, which operates in Africa, said it carried 71,763 passengers in July, up 36% on the 52,792 passengers it carried in the same month of the previous year. Its load factor decreased by one percentage point to 72% from 73%.
It said the increase in passengers was achieved in part by the commencement of flights to Malawi and additional flights to Mwanza.
fastjet has added several new flights to its operations in its winter flying programme, including increasing its Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg route from three flights a week to a daily operation, while the route linking Dar es Salaam to Lusaka and Harare also is being moved to a daily programme.
The route from Dar es Salaam to Lilongwe doubles from two to four flights a week and both Mwanza and Kilimanjaro will see significant increases, fastjet said, adding that the changes will be served by a new Airbus 319 aircraft which will be introduced into the Tanzanian fleet later this month.
fastjet added that it has signed a six-year operating lease for the first Airbus A319 aircraft in its Zimbabwean fleet with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. The aircraft will be on its way to Zimbabwe this month and seats for the first flights will go on sale shortly after it completes a demonstration flight.
"We are delighted to be reporting our highest monthly passenger numbers demonstrating the appetite for low-cost aviation in East and Southern Africa," Chief Executive Ed Winter said in a statement.
"The new schedule underlines our commitment to grow the Tanzanian operation, building frequency on our most popular routes, and significant growth across the route network cements our position in the Tanzanian market. We are now at our target figure for utilisation of our existing fleet and we will shortly be introducing a fourth aircraft into the Tanzanian fleet," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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