Africa’s low-cost airline Fastjet PLC (fastjet), has recently announced that it has gone into a lease operation with SMBC Aviation Capital Limited (SMBC), a global aircraft leasing company, for the acquisition of an additional Airbus A319 aircraft.
The air carrier indicates that the new aircraft which is meant to be the fifth in the company’s fleet, started commercial services on 1st September, 2015 covering the route Dar es Salaam – Johannesburg.
By doing this, fastjet raised the frequency of the route from three per week to daily trips in order to expand the company’s network in the region.
Fastjet’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ed Winter, explained in a statement that the company decided to start fleet’s expansion since it reached the maximum utilization of the existing Tanzanian fleet.
According to fastjet’s website, the company carried in July the highest number of passengers since its inception in 2012 totaling 71,763 up from 65,216 recorded in June and by over 3,600 passengers against the previous record of April 2015.
July also marked a 36% increase on the number of passengers carried in the same month in 2014, explained mainly by the commencement of flights to Malawi and Mwanza from Dar es Salaam.
