14th Jan 2014 11:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - fastjet PLC said Tuesday it carried a record 37,458 passengers during December, the highest number since the airline's launch, and achieved an average load factor of 71%.
The African low-cost airline said the average yield per passenger for the month was also a new record, reaching USD97, up from USD50 in December last year.
The company said total revenue for the month was USD3.6 million, up on previous months and breaking the USD3 million mark for the first time since fastjet commenced operations.
The company has now flown 365,479 passengers since launch.
For all operations, including statistics for fastjet Tanzania, Fly540 Kenya, Fly 540 Ghana and Fly540 Angola, fastjet flew 96,664 passengers in December, up from 96,028 a year earlier.
In a statement, fastjet said, "A key contributing factor to December's strong performance was the Dar es Salaam to Mbeya route which increased in frequency from three to four flights per week on 1st December, and then to daily flights on 16th December."
Despite these increases in capacity, the route achieved an excellent average load factor of 68% for the full month, said the airline.
The passenger numbers carried by the legacy 540 businesses fell slightly year on year with restructuring while punctuality remained "outstanding" with 92% of flights operating on time, it said.
Ed Winter, interim Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of fastjet, said, "Our yield and total revenue figures for the month were excellent and the performance on our established routes during the important Christmas period was better than expected. Additionally, the strong performance of the Dar es Salaam to Mbeya route continues to show how well the low cost model can work in this market place. Our low fares have stimulated the market and provided a real option for the huge, pent-up demand on this route."
The new soon-to-launch route, Dar es Salaam to Lusaka, fastjet's second international route, will take its first flight on February 1 2014. Winter said that early indicators suggest that the route will prove to be a popular link between two major commercial hubs as many Tanzanians and Zambians undertake the uncomfortable and dangerous 24 hour road journey between the two cities each day.
Looking ahead, Winter said, "Based on our achievements in 2013, as we enter 2014 I am very optimistic about the prospect of fastjet rolling out the low cost model on many more routes. Our success to date shows that the African market will react very positively to the provision of reliable, safe and well-priced air transport."
Shares in the low cost African airline were trading down 2.15% at 1.96 pence per share Tuesday morning.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
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