The founder of easyJet, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has announced that his new budget airline, Fastjet, will fly into Africa, USA Today's website reports. The new airline is expected to launch in approximately four months.
The planes will fly into Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola because Fastjet's parent company, easyGroup, has partnered with a British investment firm named Rubicon. According to the terms of their agreement, The Wall Street Journal explains, "easyGroup, whose no-frills businesses range from car rental to hotels to health clubs, will receive a royalty from Rubicon in return for an initial 5% investment, managerial advice, and use of the fastjet.com name." The Fastjet name will appear on planes that used to belong to a carrier called Fly540 before Rubicon took over Lonhro, which owns Fly 540.
Why now? "It is the optimum time to launch because Africa is hugely underserved from an aviation perspective," Ed Winter told Reuters. Winter, formerly the COO of easyJet, is expected to become Fastjet's new CEO. He later said that Africa "is the last frontier for aviation." CNN sees the fortunate timing, too, saying in an article that the airline is "aiming to cash in on Africa's robust economic growth and a growing appetite for travel by its burgeoning middle class."
Looking forward, Rubicon has plans to expand into the western part of the continent if the first routes do well. Winters has even grander plans. In the short-term, he told Reuters, "We will fly between Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola and the average fare will be $70-$80. We should be flying by the end of the year." As the company progresses, Winters said he hopes to make Fastjet the first low-cost, pan-African airline.
In addition to the less expensive tickets, there are other encouraging projected numbers. Executives believe the airline will be carrying an estimated 12 million passengers annually, "which creates an airline of roughly 40 aircraft," said Fastjet's finance director, Richard Blakesley.
"We believe that the time is absolutely right to change Fly540 into a much bigger airline based on the low-cost model which has been successful in every other part of the world," adds Winter.
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