FASTJET’S YEAR ON YEAR NUMBERS CONTINUE TO GROW
(Posted 09th December 2015)
Fastjet PLC in the UK yesterday released their November figures under the London Stock Exchange – where the company is quoted – disclosure rules. Passenger numbers, year on year from 2014 to 2015 continue to show a sharp upswing from 569.031 to 790.950 this year, an impressive rise by some 39 percent.
However, largely attributed to the elections in Tanzania and the continued uncertainty over the holding of fresh elections on Zanzibar, have loadfactors reduced from 77 percent in 2014 to only 60 percent in 2015 while numbers of passengers uplifted have for the first time also contracted from 63.146 in 2014 to 62.843 in November 2015. This constitutes a marginal drop of 0.5 percent in year on year figures and a drop by 3 percent compared to October, which was equally affected by the election campaign entering its last phase.
On time departure also dropped to 84 percent in November, caused, according to the airline, by some of the worst weather in a long time with often downpours of biblical proportions delaying an on time takeoff when crews decided to sit out the storm first. The airline’s operation in Zimbabwe however recorded a 100 percent on time record for the flights between Harare and Victoria Falls.
On the upside has the airline announced, as reported here last week in breaking news, that the flights from Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam will effective 11th January 2016 continue to Zanzibar, giving passengers from South Africa direct access to this popular destination. The daily flights from Harare and Lusaka to Dar es Salaam will also allow passengers to link to the Zanzibar departure, effectively widening the reach for this destination also to Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Some remaining technical issues have been cited by sources close to the airline for the formal announcement of flight to the Comoros while in Zimbabwe is the airline reportedly ready to step up to fill the void left by rival Fly Africa’s continued grounding over what the High Court in Harare had termed ‘safety concerns’. The main route would be from Harare to Johannesburg but again, formal announcements are only expected when the Zimbabwe CAA has formally allocated a designation for Fastjet.
Eyes for now remain firmly set on the developments in Zambia where the airline has undergone the mandatory audit for an Air Operator Certificate after receiving earlier in the year an Air Service License. Announcements, as and when imminent, will be reported here.
