fastjet Group stops funding to fastjet Tanzania, in share sale agreement with local management

fastjet Group announced (16-Nov-2018) it decided to stop all funding to fastjet Tanzania and its operation in Tanzania now "represents a discontinued business". fastjet entered a conditional share sale agreement with local management in Tanzania in relation to the sale of its interest in the holding company of fastjet Tanzania. The Tanzania business delivered a trading loss of USD4.7 million in the four months ending Oct-2018, which the company attributed to the deployment of Boeing 787 capacity on domestic routes "at below cost yields" by Air Tanzania and regulatory delays in deploying additional aircraft. With the exception of Tanzania, trading for the period was "broadly in line with management expectations". Performance improvement is ongoing in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. FedAir in South Africa delivered a trading profit while providing a base from which the fastjet brand can gradually enter the market in 2019. fastjet CEO Nico Bezuidenhout said: "Business in our continuing operations in Zimbabwe and growth markets of South Africa and Mozambique is on the right track and revenues from these markets now cumulatively exceed that generated in Tanzania... The steps taken in acquiring the fastjet brand in 2017 allows fastjet to change the deployment model in Tanzania away from one where we assume equity risk and funding obligation, in its stead aiming to deploy the brand in Tanzania on a franchise basis". [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]