News Alert: fastjet first international route temporarily postponed

fastjet, Africa’s low cost airline, announces that its first international flight between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg, previously scheduled to take place on Friday 27 September 2013, has been temporarily postponed.

This postponement is due to unexpected administrative delays caused by the South African Department of Transport this week making a very late request for additional documentation.

Although, fastjet delivered these documents without delay, the South African Department of Transport has said it will take several days to process these documents, thus delaying the start of fastjet flights on this international route. The delayed launch of this route is not expected to have any material effect on the financial performance of fastjet Tanzania.

Commenting on the news, fastjet Chief Executive Ed Winter said: “This postponement is very disappointing. Unfortunately however, administrative delays of this nature are not unusual in the markets in which we operate. Having complied with all the requests made of us and secured all the necessary licenses and permits in an extremely diligent and timely fashion, fastjet was led to believe that we were fully on-track to launch this route on the 27th September.”

fastjet would like to apologise to its customers for the inconvenience. All passengers affected by this delay will receive a full refund and assistance with re-booking a complimentary seat to fly within the next month.

Tanzanian based customers can contact fastjet customer services on +255 685 680 537 and oncustomer.tanzania@fastjet.com for any queries.

“Launching flights on this route remains a key priority for fastjet, and we are confident we will be operating on this service by mid-October, starting a new era of choice for passengers who continue to suffer inflated prices on flights between two of Africa’s largest and fastest growing cities” Winter continued.

Flights between the two cities will initially be operated by fastjet three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, increasing in frequency as soon as consumer demand dictates.

“fastjet has been on an incredible journey since we started flying domestically in Tanzania with a single A319 plane nearly 12 months ago between Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Kilimanjaro,” said Winter.

“Our Johannesburg route, where we will compete head-to-head with South African Airways to provide real value for money flights, represents the next step on that journey. Healthy and fair competition is vital in any economy and in any industry. Competition will bring choice and lower fares – a win-win for consumers,” he concludes.