Fastjet To Launch First International Route On September 27

Fastjet is launching its first international route, between Tanzania and South Africa, on September 27.

The African low-cost airline today announced that tickets for the Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg service go on sale later this week. The route is currently only served by South African Airways.

Flights will initially operate three times per week but this will be increased "in line with market demand".

Fastjet, which currently operates domestic flights within Tanzania, said it expects to add further international destinations including Lusaka and Zambia in the near future.

CEO Ed Winter said: "Despite a number of challenges, Fastjet is now able to respond to huge consumer demand and provide an alternative and affordable link between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg, having secured all required permissions to do so.

"For far too long it has been difficult and prohibitively expensive to fly between these two extraordinary cities. We expect our lower fares to stimulate a huge increase in the numbers of passengers travelling on this route, as has been the case on our domestic routes in Tanzania.

"We hope that the obvious desire for a change in the competitive landscape will result in fastjet soon being awarded licenses in more African countries, bringing consumers the benefits of choice and lower prices on many more international routes."