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Thursday, January 17, 2013

► TANZANIA: fastjet to launch Johannesburg, Moroni and Entebbe in coming weeks?

fastjetTanzania-based LCC fastjet (FN) could announce new regional routes in the coming weeks spurred on by strong first month performance figures on its domestic Tanzanian routes, launched in late November 2012.


fastjet's network
fastjet's network (fastjet)
According to the Proactive Investors on-line journal, new routes that are said to be in the offing are Entebbe, Uganda, Johannesburg, South Africa and Moroni, Comoros Islands with their respective launches to "hopefully" come "in the next few weeks."

fastjet currently flies from 3 international airports in Tanzania, covering routes between Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Kilimanjaro 

The low cost carrier also announced that it is now onboard the M-Pesa (M for mobile, pesa is Swahili for money) mobile-phone based money transfer and microfinancing service for Vodacom customers, which will allow potential clients to buy plane tickets via their mobile phones. The platform is fast becoming a necessity in the airline industry in East Africa with fellow competitor, Precision Air (PW), also providing access to the M-pesa platform.

Credit and debit card payments are expected to be introduced next month, providing “a further easy payment option for international passengers”, the budget carrier added.