Fastjet's first South African flight set for early July

Low cost airline Fastjet (LON:FJET) is now the dominant carrier on the key routes from Dar-es-Salaam to Kilimanjaro and to Mwanza.

The claim was made as the airline released passenger statistics for April. These showed that the airline achieved a load factor of 66% last month; the load factor essentially measures how full each aeroplane is on its flight.

The airline carried 32,854 passengers in April, bringing the total number of passengers carried since it started operations in late November 2012 to 146,389.

“Operational performance, a key differentiator in the African market, remains excellent with an April achievement of 96 % of flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule and a cancellation rate of less than 1%,” revealed Ed Winter, the chief executive officer of Fastjet.

The airline said its summer flying programme is now available for bookings, and includes flights on its Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar route, now that the rainy season has ended.

The group’s much anticipated entry into the key South African market is scheduled to start in early July, with flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town set to go on sale shortly.

“We are pleased to announce that our summer flying programme will commence on 1 July. From today, thousands of our famous $20 one-way fares are available to customers booking travel for the summer period,” said Fastjet’s commercial officer, Richard Bodin.