As we gear up for the opening of Routes Africa in The Seychelles this weekend more details have been released about the new low-cost carrier that is attempting to revolutionise air services in the continent. At the end of last month we reported on FastJet the new pan-African low-cost carrier being developed by easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, and how a proposed deal by investment business Rubicon Diversified Investments Plc to acquire control of existing African turboprop operator Fly540 from its parent Lonrho Aviation would bring about its formal creation.
This week the airline took another step towards its creation after it confirmed the completion of the acquisition of Lonrho’s airline division by Rubicon for a transaction value of $85.7 million, satisfied by the issue of Rubicon ordinary shares to Lonrho. Following completion of the transaction, Lonrho’s holding in the enlarged share capital of Rubicon will be 1,160,037,455 ordinary shares comprising 73.7%. The listing of the airline division into Rubicon provides the platform for further development of the airline and Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, has become a shareholder in the enlarged company through his easyGroup Holdings Limited.
This establishes the platform for the future development of the airline into a low-cost carrier for Africa and Rubicon will be formally renamed FastJet in the coming months under the terms of the easyGroup brand licence agreement. This future development will be managed by a specialist aviation team assembled by Sir Stelios and to be led by Ed Winter, who was previously the Chief Executive Officer of Go, the low-cost airline of British Airways, and thereafter the Chief Operating Officer of easyJet for five years.
In the past couple of days, Ed Winter has confirmed that FastJet will launch by October and as expected will operate with a fleet of Airbus A319s. "The decision to launch FastJet with the Airbus A319 enables us to expand rapidly with each aircraft potentially carrying around 250,000 passengers a year. Rubicon expects passenger capacity to double from current levels within six months of the introduction of the A319 fleet. We plan to add at least five leased Airbus A319 aircraft to the fleet within six months of launch and up to 15 within a year."
FastJet, like easyJet, will configure its A319s with seating for 156 passengers, made possible by the inclusion of second overwing exits on either side of the aircraft like on larger members of the A320 Family. The airline says the type was “initially chosen after an extensive evaluation of a wide range of options” and is “ideally suited to the company's expansion plans”. The first aircraft will be leased from Nomura Babcock Brown and is scheduled for delivery in September/October and negotiations on further aircraft deliveries later in the year are underway, according to the start-up.
No details have yet been announced about FastJet’s launch network although this is expected to initially cover the trunk routes currently served by Lonrho’s Fly540 businesses. "Our management team has been actively engaged in detailed discussions with a number of Governments to lobby for incentives and reduced passenger taxes, factors that will affect our final decision on where to deploy the first A319s,” added David Lenigas, Executive Chairman of Rubicon and of Lonrho Plc
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