fastjet receives approval for international routes, places South Africa domestic launch on hold

fastjet announced (14-Jun-2013) it received permission to commence services from Tanzania to Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia and plans to commence services from Dar Es Salaam to Kigali, Johannesburg and Lusaka. fastjet chairman and CEO Ed Winter said the airline expects Dar Es Salaam-Johannesburg service to be particularly popular. Mr Winter said, "To date our growth has been inhibited by lack of international routes in our network. We have expended huge effort over the past six months in obtaining these rights and we can only thank the government and population of Tanzania who have lobbied hard to allow us to gain access to the bilateral rights to operate to these countries." The airline also temporarily delayed the launch of domestic services in South Africa in order to focus on commencing international routes as soon as possible. Mr Winter said, "We remain totally committed to launching the fastjet brand in South Africa as soon as possible, but given all the time and effort the team has invested over the past months to secure our international route designations, we have taken the sensible decision to prioritise setting up these lucrative and high profile routes first." The airline previously planned to commence Johannesburg-Cape Town service on 01-Jul-2013. [more - original PR - I] [more - original PR - II]