fastJet pleased with April 2014 performance

Africa-focused carrier Fastjet (LON:FJET) reported a strong performance last month, including a record breaking sale day on April 30.

During the sale, traffic to the airline’s website increased significantly, with hits up by 977% compared to the same day in March (the previous month) and 23,000 bookings were made across all routes.

Unique users increased by 163% in Tanzania and 210% in South Africa as customers hunted for low fares.

Chief commercial officer, Richard Bodin said: "From a sales and distribution perspective, our sale saw the most successful day in Fastjet’s history, with record-breaking ticket sales, conversion rates and mobile payment transactions.

“The success of the sale has put us in a strong position as we head into the high season.”

Meanwhile, in stats for April, the Tanzanian operations carried 35,763 passengers and achieved a load factor (number of passengers as a percentage of seats available) of 66%. That compares with 32,138 passengers for 65% in April, 2013.

Ed Winter, interim Chairman and Fastjet chief executive officer, said: "I am very satisfied with these results for the month of April. Apart from the Easter weekend, demand is generally low at this time of year – with the continued rainy season often bringing travel to a halt – so this has been a strong performance.

“Passenger numbers carried by the legacy Fly540 operations continue to decline, as expected, as we restructure those businesses.”

Broker Sanlam noted that the African aviation market is immature – espcially for low cost carriers – but the company had already proven the model in Tanzania.

“Fastjet is well positioned to capitalise from a first mover advantage, and the growth in middle class travel in Africa,” said analyst Amisha Chohan.

“The business has gone through a transformation over the past few months. The restructuring and equity fundraising now provides the group with funds to grow the business.”

Fastjet shares rose 2.67% to 1.925p.