Fastjet increases domestic flights

FASTJET Zimbabwe has increased the frequency of its Harare-Bulawayo and Victoria Falls flights in response to growing demand.

The low-cost airline now has double daily flights between Harare and Bulawayo on weekends, an addition from single flights that had been happening all along.

Since last week Friday, the airline operated four flights a day into and out of Victoria Falls responding to the high demand for air travel as the city hosted the Econet Victoria Falls Marathon on Sunday.

The airline is also one of the premium partners of the marathon event. In an interview, Fastjet Zimbabwe chief commercial officer, Ms Vivian Ruwuya, said the airline plans to penetrate the SADC and East African market in future, leveraging on the open air policy.

“In the few years we have been here, we continue to respond to the demand we see during the marathon time, which has grown bigger,” he said.

“A lot more people want to travel to be part of it and us being an exclusive airline partner to the market with regards to the marathon, since Friday we have had four flights a day in and out of Victoria Falls.

“Besides the marathon, Victoria Falls for us is a tourist hub and in that, last year alone we were flying to six tourist destinations from Victoria Falls,” said Ms Ruwuya.

Fastjet operates double daily flights between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg, and daily flights between Victoria Falls and Kruger in Mpumalanga, South Africa. There are also double daily flights between Victoria Falls and Harare.

Ms Ruwuya said the airline responds to demand due to lots of activity in the tourism capital, which is a conferencing hub. She said all the flights into Victoria Falls from Friday into weekend were full and there were lots of inquiries for last minute bookings. The new Bulawayo flights were also full.

“We support the business community coming for conferences. We are a very strong domestic airline and we just recently increased the Harare-Bulawayo frequency every weekend and we have double daily flights on Saturdays and Sundays up from one flight each day,” she said.

“During the week we have morning and evening flights and that is now the case on weekends. The Bulawayo double daily is an additional schedule and will continue as long as the market responds.

“We are very happy with the market response as we had very good loads. We are happy it started on a very good note, so we are looking at much more,” she said.

On the outlook, Ms Ruwuya said Fastjet would seek to tap into the Single African Aviation Market protocol, which Zimbabwe signed and speaks to open skies and allows for more connectivity.

She said there are a lot of opportunities and it is up to the airline to expand and grow into the region and be able to service all SADC countries and East Africa.

This will give more connections and opportunity for travel and trade, she added. The airline is servicing all its scheduled flights using a fleet of five ERJ145 Embraer 50-seater aircraft.

Ms Ruwuya said the airline had proven itself through offering choice, flexibility and value, with prices that cater for all classes of prospective travellers.

“Each destination is unique in its own way. The market, demand and response, competitive edge to the environment and accessibility determines pricing,” she said.

The airline used to service the Harare-Kariba route but suspended it because of the seasonal nature of its demand.

Ms Ruwuya said the route, which was serviced by a 30-seater E120 jet, remains open and the market will determine its future to tap into opportunities in Kariba, Hwange and other local tourism destinations.

Fastjet has inter-airline agreements with Qatar and Emirates and envisions seamless travel where clients can use one ticket to their final destinations using different airlines.

The airline also works with different communities giving back through corporate social responsibility and in Victoria Falls it partnered with the Victoria Falls Anti- Poaching Unit on conservation work. Work is underway to also drill boreholes for animals and people in communities where the VFAU operates.

Fastjet is a multi-award-winning African airline that began operations in 2012.-herald