■ SOUTH AFRICA: fastjet officially in talks to acquire 1Time Airline.

Following recent speculation in the South African press, fastjet (FN) has announced that it is indeed currently in negotiations with the management, directors and provisional liquidator of 1Time (T6), the South African LCC that ceased trading last month.  The negotiations, which have not yet concluded, and are subject to Board, parent company, and Regulatory approval, would allow fastjet to purchase 1time Airline from its parent company, 1time Holdings. 

■ TANZANIA: (Pic) fastjet unveils new brand & livery; to start ticket sales next week.

fastjet, the continent's first pan-African low cost carrier set to launch later this month, today unveiled its new brand image and aircraft livery as the carrier readies itself for ops. It also announced it will begin selling tickets next week ahead of the airline's first flight this month.

► TANZANIA: Chaos as Air Tanzania 'sort of' resumes services and Fly540 TZ suddenly drops various domestic routes.

In what turned out to be a less than auspicious relaunch, Tanzanian national carrier Air Tanzania (TC) made a pig's breakfast of its debut on Friday morning, by canceling its Dar es Salaam to Mwanza via Kilimanjaro flight. A lone flight to Mwanza later in the evening on Friday served as the carrier's return to service, though news reports state that Dar es Salaam - Kilimanjaro flights will be postponed for roughly a week.

► SIERRA LEONE: Fly540 Ghana to launch Freetown, Abidjan flights from early September; Monrovia, Lagos to follow.

According to Amadeus, Fly540 Ghana (5G) is to venture further into the regional field when it launches flights from its Accra, Ghana hub to Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and Nigeria all in quick succession

Mention is also made of a potential flight to Lomé, Togo in the future.

First to be launched will be Accra, Ghana - Freetown, Sierra Leone and Accra, Ghana - Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire on 3 September 2012,  with Accra, Ghana - Monrovia, Liberia on 18 September 2012 and finally

► GHANA: Starbow expands regionally; Antrak returns to the skies whilst CTK CiTylinK suspends operations.

Ghana's civil aviation market has started to heat up considerably ahead of the launch of two new airlines - Africa World Airlines in September (tentatively) and that of Fly540's successor FastJet in November.

► GHANA: See pics of Fly540's just arrived Embraer ERJ-170!

Fly540 Ghana (5G) recently took delivery of their first Embraer ERJ-170 Jet (MSN #4|9G-FLZ) which will be used to supplement their lone ATR 72-500 on their network that currently consists of Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale in Ghana. A second 66-seat ATR72-200 is set to join the Fly540 fleet at some stage, though it is uncertain as to which branch of Fly540 (Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya or Angola) it will go.

Fly540 Ghana Embraer ERJ-170 Jet (9G-FLZ) (BK Bishop)

In related news, Fly540's parent company, FastJet, reported a 48% rise in passenger numbers in July compared with the same month last year translating into 60,367 customers flown whilst aircraft capacity utilisation stood at 65%.

FastJet is scheduled to take delivery of the first leased 156-seat Airbus A319 in either September or October with hopes of starting service from November onwards. Once the brand has settled and become profitable the Fly540 brand is then to be phased out.

► KENYA: FastJet shows off livery (Pics); Fly540 brand to go.

Following on from this week's acquisition of Lonrho Aviation (t/a Fly540), FastJet Ghana's parent company Rubicon Investments, of which Stelios Haji-Ioannou of EasyJet fame is a 5% shareholder, has outlined its plans and future prospects for the transformation of and integration of Fly540 into a Pan-African LCC giant.

A Low Cost Carrier headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, Fly540 has franchises in Angola, Ghana, Tanzania and Ghana, and operates ATR 72s, CRJ-100s, DHC 8-100s and McDonnell Douglas DC 9s. Collectively, its route network includes various cities in Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Burundi, Liberia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Uganda.

A FastJet Airbus A319 rendering

In its beginning stages, FastJet will coexist with Fly540, whilst the former moves to build a fleet using either Airbus A319s, Boeing 737-700s and/or Embraer EMB-190s. Once fleet consolidation is achieved as per the classic LCC model (a uniform fleet keeps maintenance costs down), Fly540's current aircraft leases are to be allowed to expire, before the brand itself is phased out, leaving FastJet as the main driving force.

Ultimately, FastJet aims to carry more than 12 million passengers a year, by focussing on Africa's burgeoning middle class - a phenomenon that is fast becoming a reality in Angola, Kenya and Nigeria, where substantial economic growth in recent years has meant more money in the pocket for the ordinary man on the street.

""If you take the four countries, they have a total population of 100 million people. If you estimate that all our customers come from just those countries alone, you could see three million of them becoming customers with us, flying a couple of times a year. That would generate something like 12.8 million passengers [annually]." "

Read More Here [GhanaWeb]

At the helm of FastJet will be many of Haji-Ioannou's colleagues from his days at EasyJet: Richard Boden, a former Contracts Manager at EasyJet, Ed Winter, FastJet's new CEO and formerly easyJet's Chief Operating Officer, whilst Haji-Ioannou himself, will be a consultant.

► UNITED KINGDOM: Stelios Haji-Ioannou acquires Fly540's parent company Lonrho Aviation; FastJet one step closer to reality.

EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou's Rubicon Diversified Investments today acquired Lonrho Aviation, the parent company of Nairobi-based LCC Fly540, for USD$87.5 million.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou (easyGroup)

As part of the deal, Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup Holdings Limited will own 5% of the ordinary share capital of Rubicon with the option of acquiring a further 10% in addition to receiving royalties equivalent to 0.5% of revenue. Rubicon will also avail its substantial financial resources and experience with its successful Fly540 brand, to allow for the realization of "FastJet", the soon-to-be Ghanaian startup that will service West Africa.

Lonrho Aviation t/a Fly540 is a Nairobi-based LCC with franchises in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola, who, as of 31 December 2011 had Total Assets of US$ 83.5 million and in the 15 months to December 2011, made a loss after tax of US$ 19.0 million. The majority of these losses were predominantly due to the start-up and establishment costs of opening the Angola and Ghana operational hubs.  

"In addition to the partnership with easyGroup, a key benefit of the Transaction to Lonrho is the substantial cash resources held by Rubicon (£8.8m as at 31 December 2011) which will be available for continued investment in the airline business following Completion.  

Fastjet will focus on developing a true low cost airline for Africa based on the existing Lonrho Aviation platform which, in its existing operations as Fly540, had turnover of US$57 million and carried 525,375 passengers in the 15 months to 31^st December 2011. Passenger loads continue to increase with Fly540 carrying 53,225 for the month of May 2012."

Read More Here [Lonrho]

► KENYA: LCC Fly540 gets EMB-170 Jet; Kenya Airways to respond with "Jambo Jet"?

Fly540 (5H), the Kenyan Low Cost Carrier based in Nairobi, is to receive an ex-Colombian operated Embraer EMB-170 Regional Jet, to complement the Bombardier CRJ-100ER that were recently acquired.

The real question though, is how will larger rival Kenya Airways respond to the growing need for low budget flights in sub-Saharan Africa? 

Dubbed "Jambo Jet", Kenya Airways' LCC venture has been on the cards for quite some time, though no mention of it is made inside Kenya Airways' 10 Year Strategic Plan "Project Mawingu" which plans to turn the airline into a dominant force in African aviation come 2021. On what possible plans Kenya Airways may have in terms of aircraft and a likely start this year, a source at Jomo Kenyatta Airport said:

"I would speculate that KQ might send their E170s to Jambo Jet because by now they are more keen on the larger E190 version (expected to join the Kenya Airways fleet in May) which is one of the most cost effective aircraft of its size and class."

 Read More Here [wolfganghthome's blog]