Fastjet receives foreign operator permit from South Africa's DoT

Low-cost African airline Fastjet (LON:FJET) has received its Foreign Operator Permit from the South African Department of Transport.

The award represents clearance of the final administrative hurdle to the company’s long-held ambition to set up a service between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg.

Ed Winter, chief executive of Fastjet, said tickets for what is expected to be a popular route will be on sale soon.

“We believe we are well on the way to becoming the first pan African low cost carrier," Winter said, as the company released its June passenger statistics.

The figures included some previously released numbers for Fastjet Tanzania, which showed revenue in Tanzania exceeded US$2.2mln, up 22% month-on-month, increase on the previous month.

“Fastjet load factors for the month grew from 68% to 78%, with yield per seat also growing substantially,” Winter said.

For the group as a whole, passengers carried in June totalled 81,351, up 52.8% from 53,258 in May. The figure includes statistics for Fly540 Kenya, Fly540 Ghana and Fly540 Angola, as well as Fastjet Tanzania.

Shares in Fastjet were up 5.7% to 0.994p on the news, and are up 12.6% over the last month.