Fastjet Tanzania Launch PesaPal Mobile Payment

Tanzania’s low cost airline Fastjet (AIM: FJET) recently introduced the option to pay for flights using new PesaPal mobile money platform.

PesaPal provides various payment options through the internet, for which it works with banks, mobile network operators and credit card companies.

Fastjet Update

Fastjet forecasts a passenger load of 390,000 for the semester ending 30th June 2016 (2015: 363,726), which is lower than expected, according to the company’s latest trade update.

In order to improve operations, Fastjet has appointed a new CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout, who will join the Group on 1st August 2016.

Nico is an experienced executive in the civil aviation industry having been CEO of Mango Airlines, a subsidiary of South African Airways, for 10 years.

The Board of Fastjet and Nico have already identified a number of opportunities to stabilize the business and address many of the challenges it faces.

These include a fundamental review of the company’s fleet, the size and type of aircraft operated, the routes flown, the relocation of Fastjet’s head office to Africa, and the introduction of revenue generation initiatives.

“[…] Although market conditions are currently challenging, I am confident that we can build on the airline’s existing operational base to strengthen and develop the business and deliver on its considerable potential,” Nico commented.

Fastjet is a British-based low-cost carrier operating in Africa in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The company is Africa’s first low-cost pan-African airline, having started operations with the acquisition of now defunct Fly540, which operated in East Africa.

Fastjet’s branded flights commenced in November 2012 in Tanzania and the carrier has since then flown nearly 2m passengers with fares as low as USD10 one way.