fastjet's February bookings ahead of expectations

African low-cost airline Fastjet (LON:FJET) said passenger numbers in January picked up after an expected post-Christmas lull, while bookings for February are ahead of expectations.

Passengers using the Fastjet Tanzania services totalled 26,414 in January, with a load factor of 66.0% during the month. The load factor represents the number of passengers expressed as a percentage of seats available.

Since it started operating in late November, the Fastjet Tanzania service has carried 58,329 passengers.

Fastjet said there were no cancellations in January and punctuality was an eye-catching 99.7%.

“Load factors and forward bookings for February are well ahead of expectations. Having established our reputation for total reliability on Tanzanian domestic routes, we will soon be looking to offer flights to international destinations such as Johannesburg and Entebbe,” said Ed Winter, chief executive officer of Fastjet.

With the group’s Fly540 operations in Kenya, Angola and Ghana included, the number of passengers carried in January was 84,645, with a load factor of 63.1%.

In the 12 months to the end of January, the number of passengers carried on all operations was 734,373, up 53.6% on the 478,110 carried in the preceding 12 months.

“This is a great performance for just our second month of operations, particularly given the seasonal lack of activity following Christmas, which, as expected extended into the month before business activity returned to normal,” Winter said.