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Fastjet woes continue

Johannesburg - Fastjet’s attempts to fly in South Africa seem to hit one disappointment after another. The initial plan to purchase 1time airline didn’t work out.

Then they decided to set up a joint venture with a consortium of South Africans (including Edward Zuma, the son of the President) which ran into a storm of protest about it being a “front”, and finally they decided to focus on international routes first; with Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam flights being made a priority.

In July, fastjet announced that the South African department of transport had provided them with a Foreign Operator Permit and ticket sales for Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam flights started at the end of July 2013, with a first flight advertised as taking place on September 27. 

However, fastjet on Thursday announced that it is delaying the launch even of the Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam flights. What upset the applecart was that fastjet changed its name from “Fly540 Tanzania t/a fastjet” to “Fastjet Airlines Limited” on August 15 2013; and the SA department of transport required additional documentation as a result.

This has been supplied and fastjet are eagerly waiting for the department to process the documents. 

"This postponement is very disappointing. Unfortunately however, administrative delays of this nature are not unusual in the markets in which we operate.

"Having complied with all the requests made of us and secured all the necessary licenses and permits in an extremely diligent and timely fashion, fastjet was led to believe that we were fully on-track to launch this route on the 27th September,” said Ed Winter, the Chief Executive of fastjet.
 
Fastjet are hoping to get flights back up and running by the middle of October 2013.

The airline is providing passengers affected with a full refund and a re-booking with a complimentary seat to fly within a month (email customer.tanzania@fastjet.com for assistance).
 
Fastjet plans on providing flights on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays from Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam. This route is governed by a bilateral agreement between South Africa and Tanzania; with fastjet filling a slot allocated to Tanzania.
 
Fastjet will become the first European style low cost carrier to operate flights on South African soil, where there is absolutely no free hold baggage allowance.

If South Africans take to the concept of paying for hold luggage in the same way as Europeans, it wouldn’t be surprising to see other low cost carriers (and even full service carriers) copying them.

- Fin24

* Rob Baker is co-owner of South Africa Travel Online. Follow him on twitter on @southafricaTO
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