Launch of mobile payments, update on new routes

RNS Number : 7582V

Fastjet PLC

17 January 2013

 



17 January 2013

fastjet plc

("fastjet" or the "Company")

                            fastjet launches mobile payments with M-PESA; updates on new route schedules

fastjet, the first pan African low-cost airline, has launched a mobile payment solution with Tanzania's leading telecommunications company Vodacom, thus enabling fastjet customers to buy airline tickets using their mobile phones.

M-PESA  (M for mobile, Pesa is Swahili for money) provides the cash economies of East Africa with the ability to deposit or withdraw cash, send money, buy prepaid airtime, pay utility bills and now purchase fastjet tickets.

This new partnership means that today more than 9 million subscribers to M-PESA Tanzania are able to book and pay for fastjet tickets with their mobile phones and will receive booking and payment confirmations by SMS.

Credit and debit card payments are expected to be introduced next month, providing a further easy payment option for international passengers.

Domestic flights in Tanzania from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza and Kilimanjaro commenced on 29th November 2012 and have seen strong demand. Building on this success, fastjet expects to announce regional routes to Entebbe in Uganda, Johannesburg in South Africa and Moroni in the Comoros Islands in the next few weeks.

ENDS

UK media - Citigate Dewe Rogerson                                                       Tel: [phone]

Angharad Couch

Eleni Menikou

Africa Media - Africa Practice                                                                 Tel: [phone]

Natalie Maule

Anna Riley

Joan Kiambati

Meg Muigai

Evelyn Njoroge

For investor enquiries please contact:

fastjet plc                                                                                                 Tel: [phone]

Ed Winter

David Lenigas

Angus Saunders

Geoffrey White

W.H. Ireland Ltd.                                                                                      Tel: [phone]

James Joyce

Nick Field

NOTES TO EDITORS

About fastjet plc

Fastjet is Africa's first low-cost airline. Backed by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of leading low cost airline easyJet, fastjet began flying in November 2012 and operates routes in Tanzania from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza and Dar es Salaam to Kilamanjaro. It plans to open its second hub in Nairobi in Kenya in Spring 2013 followed by hubs in Ghana and Angola. Its ambition is to become Africa's first pan-continental airline, bringing international standards of safety, quality, security and reliability.

Fastjet acquired African airline Fly 540 in June 2012 and operates a modern fleet of jet aircraft based on the Fly540 platform of licenses and routes. It has so far leased three Airbus A319 aircraft and plans to operate five within six months of launch and up to 15 aircraft within the first year of flight operations. Fastjet plans to bring an entirely new flying experience to the African market with fares starting a little as $20 one way excluding taxes.

In the first month of operations, fastjet achieved a 78.9% load factor and carried almost 30,000 passengers. Passenger numbers in the 12 months to December 2012 stood at 697,267, up 54.4% on the same period in the prior year.

fastjet plc is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. For more information see www.fastjet.com

Significant African Aviation Market Potential

Africa is a growth aviation market with regional and intercontinental traffic both growing rapidly as a result of the continent's continued economic expansion.  With over one billion people, Africa is hampered by poor infrastructure, a lack of roads and railways and long distances between urban populations.  The African aviation market is significantly underserved with air travel spending as a percentage of GDP a fraction of that of other emerging markets.  With rapid economic growth and, as a result, the growing wealth of African citizens, more and more people will be able to benefit from aviation and fly for the first time. Airbus forecasts total passenger traffic in Africa will grow at an average yearly rate of 5.7% between 2010 and 2030, well above the 4.8 per cent world average growth rate and expects to deliver more than 1,100 new passenger aircraft, 4% of world deliveries, in the next 20 years to satisfy growing demand. Seven of the top 10 fastest growing global economies are now in Africa with consumer spending for the continent forecast to reach US$1.6 trillion by 2020.  A recent McKinsey report (June 2010) forecast that 128 million households in Africa are expected to have discretionary income to spend by 2020, while 50% of Africans are expected to live in cities by the same date with urban jobs bringing rising incomes. The McKinsey report concluded that today the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other developing region and that early entry into African economies provides opportunities to create markets, establish brands, shape industry structure, influence consumer preferences and establish long-term relationships.

The Low-Cost Airline Model

The low-cost airline model seeks to attract large numbers of additional passengers by offering significantly lower fares.  The fares need to be low enough to persuade people who did not previously travel by air to do so, and others to travel more often.  The global experience of launching a low-cost carrier is that it creates a completely new market rather than a redistribution of market share in the existing market.

 

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