FASTJET GOES INTO OVERDRIVE
(Posted 02nd September 2015)
September 2015 is a milestone month for Fastjet in its African operations, making progress on a broad number of areas, sadly though for Kenyan travelers without yet having landing rights from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi nor having made progress with their 18 months old application to set up Fastjet Kenya.
Yesterday saw the launch of the additional flights from Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg, with this key route now being served on a daily basis. In fact will Zanzibar also benefit from the new upped schedule as passengers from South Africa have the option to book onward flights via Fastjet through one of the airline’s partners flying the last leg out of JNIA to ZNZ.
By mid-September will the airline then combine their operations from Dar es Salaam to both Lusaka and Harare and offer a daily service combining the two capitals of Zambia and Zimbabwe, no doubt a shot in the arm of trade and tourism relations between Tanzania, neighbours Zambia and adjoining Zimbabwe.
Most notably however will two newly acquired Airbus A319 aircraft be deployed to Lusaka and Harare in final preparations of attaining the Air Operator Certificates, in short AOC’s from the two respective Civil Aviation Authorities in Zambia and Zimbabwe ahead of the formal launch of operations.
Fastjet has yet to announce the destinations the airline will serve domestically in Zambia and in Zimbabwe but existing traffic flows would suggest key domestic cities in the two countries besides regional flights to Johannesburg.
Richard Bodin, Fastjet PLC’s Chief Commercial Officer and also a member of the Board of Directors of the airline, must have been smiling from ear to ear when he dispatched his comments to this correspondent, saying: ‘We have always promised to increase the frequency on our routes as and when our customers demand it. The increased frequencies emphasize our commitment to growing our network across Africa, making air travel easy, safe and affordable. The increased flight schedule is made possible by the introduction of additional aircraft into the Tanzanian fleet later this month, making the fleet a total of four A319 aircraft.We really are thrilled at the positive reception that fastjet has enjoyed across Africa. With our low-cost fares, fastjet is making air travel more accessible than ever before, with many of our passengers being first time flyers who would otherwise not have been able to afford to travel by air’.
Promises fulfilled no doubt and with more good news to come in a few weeks when flights will commence from Zambia and Zimbabwe there is more to look forward to, so just keep watching this space for breaking and regular aviation news from Eastern Africa.
