African operator FastJet ready for take-off

FastJet, the new budget African airline, has signed leasing agreements for two aircraft, and poached easyJet and Ryanair bosses.

The carrier plans to launch next month at its first base in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It aims to be flying as many as 15 aircraft on low-cost routes around Africa within a year. Fastjet will take delivery of its second and third A319 aircraft next month.

Fastjet has appointed easyJet's former head of aircraft operations, Rob Bishton, as operations director; Kyle Haywood, former chief executive of Air Uganda,as general manager of Africa, and Ryanair's former training executive, Harun Cordan, as group chief pilot and head of flight operations.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, has a 5 per cent stake in the company.