LONDON (Alliance News) - Fastjet PLC Wednesday reported a rise in the number of passengers carried in October on the same month a year earlier, but its load factor declined.
The low-cost African airline said it carried 73,758 passengers in October, a 23% increase on the 59,830 carried in October 2014. Its load factor fell by 11 percentage points however, to 63% from 74%, while capacity grew by 23%.
"The load factor this month has been significantly affected by a change in market demand in Tanzania due to the Presidential elections. We expected a downturn in the few days leading to the election and on the day itself. However, due to the unusually competitive nature of this year's elections, people tended to suspend travel plans until the inauguration. There have been no significant reports of civil unrest in the country and I am pleased to report that bookings are beginning to return to expected levels," Chief Executive Ed Winter said in a statement.
Fellow low-cost airlines Ryanair Holdings PLC and Wizz Air Holdings PLC also released their October traffic statistics on Wednesday.
Ryanair said it carried 9.7 million customers in October, up 15% from the 8.4 million it carried a year earlier, while its load factor improved to 94% from 89%.
Wizz Air said its load factor increased by 1.9 percentage points to 88.2% from 86.3%, while the number of passengers carried rose 23% to 1.7 million from 1.4 million.
Shares in fastjet were trading down 5.2% at 69.90 pence on Wednesday morning, while Ryanair shares were up 0.9% at EUR14.63 and Wizz Air shares were down 4.2% at 1,850.00p.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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