3rd Sep 2014 08:45
LONDON (Alliance News) - fastjet PLC said Wednesday that it flew nearly twice as many passengers in August as it did a year earlier, while capacity rose 15% compared with July.
The African low-cost airline said it carried a total of 65,489 passengers in August, up from 33,021 in the comparable month last year.
Capacity was 15% from July as it flew 83,085 seats in August, up from 72,355. Its load factor - a measure of how full its seats were - came in at 79%, down slightly on the 83% reported in Ausgut last year.
"I am delighted to see our capacity continue to rise month on month as we maximise the utilisation of resources, particularly aircraft," said interim Chairman and CEO Ed Winter.
"This month's 15% increase of seats flown has resulted in a 67% improvement in aircraft utilisation since March 2014. At the end of August, aircraft utilisation reached 9.9 hours per aircraft per day, up from 5.9 hours in March 2014, bringing us closer to reaching our goal of 11.7 hours. September will see a further uplift in capacity with the introduction of flights to Entebbe in Uganda," he added.
The company commenced flights between Dar es Salaam and Entebbe on Monday, marking the launch of its fourth international route between Tanzania and Uganda.
August's 15% capacity rise followed an 8% increase in July and 12% in June.
Punctuality for the month remained excellent, said fastjet, with 94% of flights arriving on time, despite having added extra flights.
Shares in fastjet were Wednesday trading 1.32% higher at 1.34 pence per share.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
FJET.L