Fastjet’s East Africa management took reality into account when they dropped their remaining two flights between Kilimanjaro and Nairobi, which the airline launched on January 11 alongside their Dar es Salaam to Nairobi flights.
Low traffic numbers, in spite of the lowest fares on the market – as long as the bookings are done well in advance – prompted this decision to reallocate aircraft capacity to routes where demand is high and load factors above the break-even point.
The new road between Nairobi and Arusha and reportedly improved processing speeds at the border by immigration and customs, has seen road traffic surge in recent months, making the journey on wheels only marginally longer than having to travel 50 km from Arusha to Kilimanjaro International, at least 2 hours before the flight, a time frame which sees road travelers already well into Kenya before passengers have even boarded a plane yet. Other airlines also struggle with load factors but at higher fares, allowing their services to continue on a marginal basis.
Elsewhere Fastjet Zimbabwe in the meantime has gone double daily between Harare and Johannesburg (except for Saturday where only one flight connects the 2 cities) and has successfully launched their new route between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg, operating every Friday and Sunday.
No information could be obtained as yet on the anticipated start of operations out of Lusaka and no reasons are available for the delay of the launch of operations in Zambia.
