FastJet, pan-African budget carrier, said yesterday will start selling its first international frequency ticket between Tanzania and South Africa this Thursday.According to the airline, its facebook 'friends' will get first option to book flights on Wednesday with seats going on general sale the following day—Thursday while the first flight scheduled to late September.
The flights from Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg will be available with fares starting at 100US dollars (about 160,000/-) plus government taxes and charges, prices the airline claims are “substantially cheaper” than existing rates.
FastJet’s Chief Executive Ed Winter was quoted by international media saying despite challenges the airline was now able to respond to huge consumer demand.
“…And (FastJet can now) provide an alternative and affordable link between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg, having secured all required permissions to do so,” Mr Winter said yesterday.
However, the regulator, Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA), Director General Mr Fadhil Manongi was not reached for comment as his mobile phone was out of air.
The FastJet Chief Executive said for far too long it has been difficult and prohibitively expensive to fly between these two extraordinary cities.
“We expect our lower fares to stimulate a huge increase in the numbers of passengers travelling on this route, as has been the case on our domestic routes in Tanzania,” Mr Winter said.
The Daily News spot check yesterday from various air ticketing firms shows that on average a two way ticket between Dar and Jo’burg is about 600 US dollars while a one-way is between 380 and 400 US dollars.
Fastjet said: “For some time the Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg route has only been operated by one airline and the lack of competition has created inflated fares.”
The airline Chief Commercial Officer Richard Bodin said mid this month when answering questions form facebook ‘friend’ that the Dar-Jo’burg route would start soon.
“…We will be flying between Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam soon,” Mr Bodin said when answers some of the airline’s facebook fun. He was in Dar es Salaam at that time.
Speaking about giving first opportunity to Facebook he said: “Our decision to offer our Facebook 'friends' the opportunity to purchase tickets first is our way of thanking them”.
FastJet data shows that the airline is current flying over 40,000 passengers every month to a various destinations around Tanzania. It flies to Dar-Mwanza, Dar-Kilimanjaro and Mwanza-Zanzibar.
The first Airbus A319 service is scheduled for September 27 with three flights a week planned. The carrier plans to raise the frequency of flights in line with market demand.
Further international destinations, including Lusaka in Zambia, are expected to be added in the near future.
Source: Tanzania Exchange, reported from Dar es Salaaam
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