Fastjet Zimbabwe suspends flights

Low cost airline, Fastjet Zimbabwe said yesterday it will suspend operations at the end of the week for 21 days as part of measures to combat Covid-19.

It becomes the latest airline to suspend flights into or from Zimbabwe, after Emirates announced a similar move two weeks ago over Covid-19. Fastjet Zimbabwe said its last flights will be on Thursday.

“Fastjet Zimbabwe announced today (Tuesday) that as a result of the latest measures introduced in Zimbabwe and South Africa to control the spread of COVID-19, all Fastjet flight operations shall be suspended from Friday 27 March until Thursday 16 April 2020, both days fully inclusive,” it said.

It said it will offer free re-booking assistance to affected passengers, and there will be no fare increase.

“Further announcements and information will be shared via our website; Travel Update section and social media channels. Changes to the trading hours for our call centre and sales shops will be updated as and when applicable.”

Since commencing operations a few years ago, Fastjet Zimbabwe has flown over 3,5 million passengers and curved out a niche as an affordable low-cost carrier.

Currently it runs 114 flights per week.

In the first half of 2019, Fastjet Zimbabwe revenue rose 19 percent to US$12,1 million from US$10,2 million in the comparative period, owing largely to an increase in revenue per passenger and per available seat kilometres.- New Ziana