FastJet’s half-empty flights push share price down

The African low-cost airline said it would miss its target

The African low-cost airline said it would miss its targets (Paul Bellsham)

FastJet’s shares dived 7 per cent today as the African low-cost airline warned that revenues would miss forecasts for this year and next after flying a succession of half-empty planes.

The Aim-listed company, which is backed by EasyJet’s founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, blamed the Tanzanian presidential elections in October for curtailing government air travel. This autumn it reported that planes were just 63 per cent full, and said it would stop giving monthly passenger figures. Now it has also warned of currency headwinds, and that markets remain challenging, although it was trying to cut costs.

More optimistically, the airline said it was close to getting international route approvals in Zimbabwe, and expected to launch a “significant” FastJet Zimbabwe network “early in the new year”.

Shares in the airline have fallen from a peak of 150p to just 43.75p yesterday. This month three of its non-executive directors stepped down.

FastJet said it can still tap into the huge growth potential of African air travel. “The board believes 2016 will be a year of network growth and that the group is expected to be cash flow positive for the next financial year,” it said.