Fastjet

While Stelios Haji-Ioannou may help give Africa its first low-cost carrier franchise in the form of FastJet, growth should not be expected to occur at the same pace as Stelios' easyJet operation, even if FastJet targets an eventual goal of 12 million passengers annually, which could require upwards of 30 to 40 aircraft. Infrastructure and regulatory challenges in Africa are notable and the general lack of liberalisation across the continent means FastJet will be tied to the antiquated system of bilateral agreements that protect national interests, which remain high at the dawn of a revitalised era in African aviation, spawned by increasing GDP growth and investment.

It is not difficult to see the long-term potential, but in the short-term FastJet will start conservatively. FastJet is due to launch later this year by taking over the operations of Fly540, a pan-African full-service carrier with operations in Angola, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. The re-branding will coincide with the adoption of a LCC model and shedding Fly540's primarily regional aircraft for Embraer E-jets or Airbus A319s, smaller than the typical LCC use of A320s and Boeing 737s.

Stelios' involvement will also help Fly540 build a more robust operation, including a unified brand, important when targeting numerous local markets.

Stelios starts conservatively with mere 5% stake as new brand FastJet emerges
Rubicon, a cash shell company, intends to purchase the aviation arm of Lonrho, an African conglomerate, subject to shareholder approval on 29-Jun-2012. Lonrho owns Fly540, which was initially established in Kenya and now operates affiliates in Angola, Ghana and Tanzania. Lonrho will own 73.7% of Rubicon while Stelios, as he is commonly referred to as, will take a 5% stake with the option of increasing it to 10% within two years, a relatively minor amount in aviation, especially considering Stelios' potential large upside.

Stelios' easyGroup has licensed the FastJet brand for 10 years and in return will receive 0.5% of revenue with a minimum guarantee of USD500,000 per annum. In Lonrho Aviation's latest financial year, the 15 months to 31-Dec-2011 (the company switched to ending on 31-Dec from 30-Sept), it reported USD57 million in revenue. The 0.5% royalty metric would yield USD285,000 whereas the minimum USD500,000 per annum would see easyGroup receive USD625,000 for the 15 month period. easyGroup will also receive a monthly EUR50,000 consulting fee for the ten years branding agreement, equivalent to EUR600,000 per annum.

easyGroup will lend advice to the carrier and former easyJet COO as well as Go director/COO Ed Winter will become FastJet's CEO. Much has been made of the FastJet brand. It first appeared in late 2011 on a website that proclaimed, "Fastjet.com. By Stelios. Coming soon!"

There were hints of goading as Stelios had been in conflict with easyJet, which he partially owns, and the potential Fastjet.com start-up was seen as antagonising easyJet. Under the branding agreement between easyJet and Stelios, Stelios is prohibited from starting a carrier competing with easyJet.

As Stelios shed light on FastJet, the carrier moved away from an easyJet competitor to an operation in Africa. FastJet intends to only operate within sub-Saharan Africa, placing it squarely away from easyJet, although the public may continue to be intrigued by easyJet's disenchanted founder establishing a new airline, even if overlap is zero.

The FastJet brand has evolved from a red logo with minimalist type to a logo closer to easyJet's, even taking on orange (although orange is also the colour of Fly540's logo). A livery mock-up indicates the logo will be plasted across the fuselage like easyJet's and will also have engines and wing elements painted in orange, also like on easyJet aircraft.
It remains to be seen if the logo will grow closer to easyJet – with the main difference effectively being "Fast" instead of "easy". Aside from sharing easyJet's "jet" suffix, FastJet has no market recognition. It also has no resemblance with any of Lonrho's subsidiaries, which include hotels, whereas easyGroup includes bus services, hotels, internet cafes and more all branded with the "easy" prefix.

It is intended that FastJet will replace the Fly540 brand. The Fly540 brand has gained some traction in its original market of Kenya, where it launched services with fares of KES5,540 (USD65), but it does not easily render in other markets.

Admin a écrit:Malgré Ebola donc...

fastjet has revealed plans to increase its fleet to support the planned expansion of fastjet Tanzania and facilitate the start-up of operations in both Zambia and Zimbabwe, including signing a Letter of Intent with ICBC International Leasing Company for one Airbus A319.

Ed Winter, fastjet’s CEO, stated, "It will be a strong step forward to add another aircraft to our fleet and embark on our planned expansion funded by our recent £50 million placing. We are currently negotiating to bring further aircraft into the fleet.”

The aircraft will enter into service in the third quarter of 2015, subject to agreement. As previously announced, the carrier’s target is to have up to 34 aircraft operating to 40 destinations within and from Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda by the end of 2018.

Beochien a écrit:Il aurait mieux fait de garder ses billes chez Easy Jet !