The story
Founded by Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2011.1
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Initial proposals
In June 2012, to start 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 were 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 license agreement.
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.
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, and Fastjet Zimbabwe was launched. The initial flights between its base at Harare International Airport to Victoria Falls commenced on 28 October 2015, and flights to Johannesburg commenced from 1 February 2016 and flights to Nelspruit Kruger Mpumalanga and Maun Botswana have recently been announced from Victoria Falls commencing on 16 March 30 June 2022.
With troubled operations and continued losses, majority shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou through his holding in EasyGroup successfully changed the board of Fastjet Plc with the departure of six board members in a short period of time. Ed Winters was replaced as CEO by Nico Bezuidenhout, from rival low-cost airline Mango, on 1 August 2016.
Bezuidenhout instigated a 'Stabilisation Plan', which included reducing unprofitable routes, switching [KJ3] [NN4] from A319s to (smaller) Embraer ERJ145 aircraft and moving the airline's headquarters from London Gatwick Airport to Africa - later revealed as a move to Johannesburg. The aim was to achieve cashflow breakeven in the fourth quarter of 2017. There was further fundraising in September 2017, to raise not less than US$44m.
In July 2019, Fastjet announced that its CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout, would step down after three years in the role. Following the announcement, Mark Hurst, the deputy group chief executive officer, was appointed to lead the airline until a permanent replacement was named.
In November 2023 Fastjet announced an increase of its frequency between Bulawayo and Johannesburg from daily to 12 weekly flights. It also re-introduced its morning service, with an inaugural flight from Johannesburg OR Tambo International (JNB) on an Embraer 145 aircraft.
From Wikipedia’s article on Fastjet, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4