STRUGGLING African low cost carrier Fastjet is raising 8 million US dollars by selling its only wholly-owned aircraft.
Fastjet Chief Executive Nico
Bezuidenhout said, in a statement that “The sale of our Airbus A319 is
an important step in our stabilisation plan and our move towards a more
appropriate size of fleet.
“Its early days but the plan is
progressing well and the money raised from this sale will be used to
drive its continued implementation,” he said. The disposal of the Airbus
A319 is part of a fleet reduction plan as it moves to smaller aircraft
on short term leases.
“The use of proceeds will be utilised as
working capital for the implementation of Fastjet’s stabilisation plan
as outlined in the company’s interim results announcement,” he said.
The cost-cutting restructuring was
announced last month after Fastjet revealed a loss of 15 million US
dollars for the first half of the year. Changes to the fleet are
designed to cut costs by 15 per cent in fuel, maintenance, handling and
navigation charges.
“The transition from the existing
aircraft to the replacement fleet will initially be arranged through
short term wet leases - aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance.
“It is intended that the wet lease
arrangements will be superseded by dry leases -aircraft only – in the
first half of 2017,” he said. The airline was established in Tanzania
four years ago with backing from easyJet founder Sir Stelios
Haji-Ioannou.
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