Fastjet

Fastjet Plc
Public
Industry Airline
Headquarters Gatwick Airport, United Kingdom
Key people
 Clive Carver (Chairman)
Ed Winter (CEO)
Krista Bates (GC)
Richard Bodin (COO)
Nick Caine (CFO)
Revenue Increase US$53.7 million
(2013/14)
Decrease US$ -43.9 million
(2013/14)
Website fastjet.com

Fastjet Plc (LSE:FJET) is a British-based holding company for a group of low-cost carriers that are, or are expected to be, operating in Africa. The company's stated aim is to become the continent's first low-cost, pan-African airline, and the operation was initially created with the acquisition of Fly540, an airline operating in East Africa; flights in Fastjet's own name commenced in November 2012 in Tanzania.[1] In order to satisfy local ownership and other requirements, the current strategy is to create locally incorporated airlines to operate services using a common branding, operational standards and sales platform.

The initial operation is now run as Fastjet Tanzania. Fastjet Zimbabwe commenced flights in October 2015, and Fastjet Zambia is at an advanced planning stage.

History

Initial proposals

While originally thought to be competing with easyJet,[2] it was later claimed by The Daily Telegraph that Fastjet was planned to be a transatlantic long-haul airline.[3]

It was eventually revealed that Fastjet was a proposed low-cost African airline, and that an agreement had been signed with Rubicon Investments.[4]

By June 2012 the plans had become clearer. To start the operations, Rubicon Diversified Investments Plc (later renamed Fastjet Plc) completed the acquisition of Lonrho's airline division for a transaction value of US$85.7m, satisfied by the issue of Rubicon ordinary shares to Lonrho. Key shareholders in the enlarged company would be Lonrho and Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, through his easyGroup Holdings Limited (“easyGroup”). The airline division acquired included the African regional airline Fly 540, operating in Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, which would form the platform for the development of a low cost carrier for Africa, branded ‘Fastjet’ under the terms of the easyGroup brand licence agreement.

Commencement of operations

The airline chose Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as its first operating base in Africa, with flights from Julius Nyerere International Airport commencing on 29 November 2012. Initially flights operated successfully between Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro, and between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza. Further routes were to be added quickly, both domestically and to other East African destinations,[5] and FastJet said it would move its operation office from Tanzania to Kenya, once it has approval to operate in Kenya.[6] Once established in East Africa, FastJet also had plans to launch in Ghana and Angola, other Fly540 areas of operation, but all these expansion plans appear to have become embroiled in a public dispute between Fastjet and the original Fly540 management regarding outstanding debts and validity of operating licences.[7] In May 2014 Fly540 Ghana and Fly540 Angola were both shut down as they were incompatible with the Fastjet low cost model.[8][9]

Expansion of services

As well as expanding services from the base in Tanzania, in October 2015 the company obtained an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) for Zimbabwe,[10] and announced its plans to launch fastjet Zimbabwe. The initial flights between its base at Harare International Airport to Victoria Falls commenced on 28 October 2015,[11] and flights to Johannesburg are due to commence from 1 February 2016.[12]

Corporate affairs

Ownership

Fastjet (FJET:LSE) is traded on the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (AIM). After their initial involvement, Lonrho Plc disposed of their shares in Fastjet by 14 November 2013.[13] In April 2014 Fastjet completed a successful $25 million Open Offer.[14] EasyGroup retains a major stake in the company, holding over 10% of shares.

Current disclosable interests (of 3% or more) in ordinary shares (as at December 2015)[15] were:

Shareholder Shares Interest
M&G Investment Management9,803,43614.76%
EasyGroup7,186,75410.82%
Majedie Asset Management4,551,4106.85%
J.O. Hambro Capital Management4,550,0006.85%
The Mako Europe Fund Ltd, Oxburgh Partners3,639,0005.48%
Hargreaves Lansdown (EO)2,759,6344.15%
Henderson Global Investors2,500,0003.76%
GAM1,990,7003.00%
Other investors 29,441,16344.33%
Total66,422,097100.00%

Business trends

Fastjet began trading under its own name on 29 November 2012, and financial results for 2011 are not relevant as the Fly540 business was not acquired until 29 June 2012; financial results below for 2012 for Fastjet were for the 18-month period ended 31 December 2012. The company and group report in US Dollars.

Because Fastjet ran operations in various countries as Fly540, for comparative purposes the table below shows separate operational figures for the original businesses and for the new Fastjet activities (as at year ending 31 December):

2011 2012 2013 2014
Turnover (US$ m) n/a 21.1 53.4 53.8
Profits/losses after tax (US$ m) n/a −55.9 −80.9 −72.1
Number of employees (average) 8 371 436 271
Fastjet operations
Number of passengers (m) 0 0.03 0.37 0.60
Passenger load factor (%) - 78.9* 72 73
Number of aircraft (at year end) 0 3 3 3
Fly540 operations
Number of passengers (m) 0.45 0.67 0.62 n/a
Passenger load factor (%) 62.0* n/a n/a n/a
Number of aircraft (at year end) 4 n/a n/a
All operations
Number of passengers (m) 0.45 0.70 0.99 0.60
Passenger load factor (%) 62.0* 71.8* 72.0 73.0
Number of aircraft (at year end) 7 3
Notes/sources *Dec only
[16]		 *Dec only
[17]		 [18] [19]

Head office

Fastjet Plc has its registered office and head office at Suite 2C in First Point on the grounds of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, England.[20]

The airline also maintains a head office in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.[21][22]

Destinations

As of January 2016, Fastjet airlines serve the following destinations:[23]

Base
Future
Suspended route
City Country IATA ICAO Airport
Arusha and Moshi  Tanzania JRO HTKJ Kilimanjaro International Airport
Dar es Salaam TanzaniaDARHTDAJulius Nyerere International Airport [Base]
Entebbe  Uganda EBB HUEN Entebbe International Airport
Harare ZimbabweHREFVHAHarare International Airport [Base]
Johannesburg  South Africa JNB FAOR OR Tambo International Airport
Lilongwe Malawi LLW FWKI Lilongwe International Airport (ended 8 February 2016) [24]
Lusaka  Zambia LUN FLKK Kenneth Kaunda International Airport
Mbeya TanzaniaMBIHTMBSongwe Airport
Moroni ComorosHAHFMCHPrince Said Ibrahim International Airport [25]
Mwanza TanzaniaMWZHTMWMwanza Airport
Nairobi KenyaNBOHKJKJomo Kenyatta International Airport [26]
Victoria Falls  Zimbabwe VFA FVFA Victoria Falls Airport [23]
Zanzibar City  Tanzania ZNZ HTZA Abeid Amani Karume International Airport [27]

Cargo

Fastjet has signed an agreement with one of Africa’s largest cargo operators, BidAir Cargo, to carry cargo on its fleet of Airbus A319s. Fastjet has sufficient capacity to accommodate the carrying of cargo on its Tanzanian routes [28]

Fleet

Airbus A319 at Dar es Salaam

The Fastjet fleet consists of a single aircraft model (Airbus A319) across all operating companies, configured in a single passenger class, in accordance with its stated low-cost carrier business model.

Details of current aircraft are shown on each operating companies' page. In summary, aircraft numbers by fleet as of February 2016 were:[29][30]

Fastjet group fleet
Operating
Company		 Aircraft In
Service		 Orders Options Passengers Notes
Fastjet Tanzania Airbus A319-100 5 0 0 Var. [31][32]
Fastjet Zambia Airbus A319-100 0 0 0 - [33]
Fastjet Zimbabwe Airbus A319-100 1 0 0 144 [34]
Total 6 0 0

The group plans to grow its fleet to as many as 34 aircraft by 2018 as it expands across Africa.

References

  1. ↑ Start of flight operations (in German)
  2. ↑ Fastjet could leave EasyJet feeling queasy, Financial Times, 2011-09-28
  3. ↑ Stelios's Fastjet to take on long-haul market. The Daily Telegraph.
  4. ↑ EasyGroup and Rubicon to study Africa airline. Af.reuters.com (5 December 2011).
  5. ↑ Fastjet tickets go on sale. Easy.com (13 November 2012).
  6. ↑ FastJet shifts focus to East Africa market with Nairobi hub . businessdailyafrica.com (29 November 2012).
  7. ↑ "Stock Exchange announcement". 6 February 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "Fly 540 to cease operations in Ghana". citifonline. 16 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "Restructuring of Fly540 Angola and Ghana". Fastjet plc. 29 April 2014.
  10. ↑ "fastjet granted Air Operator Certificate in Zimbabwe". London Stock Exchange RNS. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "fastjet Zimbabwe's inaugural flight". Fastjet. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "fastjet launches new routes from Zimbabwe". Fastjet. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Lonrho departs fastjet's share register". Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  14. ↑ "EasyJet Founder Gets 10% Stake as FastJet is Raising $25 Million in Funding". Skift. 13 April 2014.
  15. ↑ "Fastjet - Shareholders". Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "Fastjet passenger statistics". Easygroup. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  17. ↑ "Results for the 18-month period to 31 December 2012". Fastjet. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  18. ↑ "Final Results for the year ended 31 December 2013". Fastjet. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Final Results for the year ended 31 December 2014" (PDF). Fastjet. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  20. ↑ "Investor Contacts." (Archive) Fastjet. Retrieved on 7 May 2013. "Registered Office and Head Office fastjet Plc Suite 2C First Point Buckingham Gate Gatwick Airport RH6 0NT"
  21. ↑ "Contact fastjet." (Archive) Fastjet. Retrieved on 7 May 2013. "fastjet Tanzania Plot No 767/39, Suite No. 1 Samora Avenue Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 38639 Upanga"
  22. ↑ "Feedback." (Archive) Fastjet. Retrieved on 7 May 2013. "fastjet Head Office Plot No 767/39, Suite No. 1 Samora Avenue P.O. Box 38639 Upanga Dar es Salaam Tanzania"
  23. 1 2 "Fastjet Destinations". Fastjet. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  24. ↑ "Malawi’s ailing economy forces regional fastjet to suspend flights into Malawi". The Maravi Post. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  25. ↑ Thome, Wolfgang H (14 November 2015). "Fastjet Tanzania gets sixth international route". Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  26. ↑ "Fastjet launches flights to Kenya". Fastjet. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "Fastjet Adds Zanzibar Route from Jan 2016". Airlineroute.net. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  28. ↑ "South African upgrades, Fastjet turns to cargo". aircargoworld.com. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  29. ↑ "Our fleet". Fastjet.com. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  30. ↑ "Fastjet set to buy first plane and double fleet". Proactive Investors. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  31. ↑ Martin, Ben (25 August 2015). "Fastjet fleet plans take-off after buying its first plane". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  32. ↑ "African LCC group fastjet passes hurdle with launch of Zimbabwe affiliate as Tanzania base expands". CAPA - Centre for Aviation. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  33. ↑ Owusu-Nyantakyi, Afia (26 August 2015). "[Zambia] fastjet to purchase A319 aircraft". Africa Business Communities. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  34. ↑ "fastjet Zim receives operating certificate". The Herald. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.

External links

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