fastjet figures reveal airline is flying in the right direction

fastjet (LON:FJET) passenger number revealed the Africa-focused budget airline is flying in the right direction.

In January its operations in Tanzania carried 31,241 passengers, achieving a load factor of 60%.

The average yield per passenger was $88, compared with $46 in the same month last year.

This gave total revenue of $2.75mln, a 128% year on year rise based on a 27% rise increase in capacity.

fastjet also revealed its new Dar es Salaam to Lusaka route is proving particularly popular with the Zambian passengers. All our flights out of Lusaka have been fully booked chief executive Ed Winter said he is confident that this route will “grow substantially."

On the latest figures, he said: "I am very satisfied with our performance for January.

“The post-Christmas period is traditionally one of the slowest months of the year but fastjet has avoided deep discounts and has successfully focussed on maintaining a strong yield.

“An average yield of $88 per passenger exceeded our expectations and the large growth in yield per passenger year-on-year clearly demonstrates the strong, continuing development of the Tanzanian air travel market and of the fastjet brand.”