Member Info for Carbonix

... perhaps it's nuri123a's birthday? Let's hope someone buys him a toy.

Lo and behold, all is not well with Zimbabwe Airways... From News24: "The price of planes bought from Malaysia for a new Zimbabwe airline may have been inflated by up to $140 million, prompting a probe by President Emmerson Mnangagwa�s government, a private newspaper claimed on Friday. Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Transport Minister Joram Gumbo said on Wednesday the government had paid $41 million for two Boeing 777s and a smaller Embraer aircraft from Malaysia, to be leased to a new airline: Zimbabwe Airways. But the private Daily News, citing "highly-placed sources" said $140 million couldn't be accounted for, prompting a probe by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. ...Questions have been raised as to why the government is supporting a competitor to its own national airline Air Zimbabwe. " See https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/murky-zimbabwe-airways-deal-100m-vanishes-in-aircraft-purchase-says-report-20180414

Er... yes. But it is just for a flight simulation computer game, so let's not get too excited!

Wolfgang:. https://atcnews.org/2018/02/06/fastjet-pulls-kigoma-flight-bookings-from-system/

Air Zimbabwe? Bulowayo not mentioned here, but it fits this ambition: https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-127278.html

Whoops, no I'm wrong - it is just that Kigoma now appears in the dropdown list from Dar - but you still can't see bookable flights. I'm bloody furious. Hope Wolfgang gets on the case, and I may email TCAA myself.

I think the website now offers bookings to/from Kigoma again... So is that now OK?

I've just discovered that there are two editions of the new Places magazine, one for Zimbabwe and one for Tanzania (presumably distributed from the respective bases). The Zimbabwe one I've already posted a link to: https://user-buey55r.cld.bz/Places-Magazine-Feb-March-2018-ZW .. but here's another link, which, despite the web address, takes you to the Tanzania February-March edition: https://user-buey55r.cld.bz/Places-Magazine-Jan-Feb-2018-Tanzania Not much diference between them that I can see.

Thanks faltherelmer, So for January, that's 176 + 346 E45 flights = 522 flights = 26,100 seats @ say a cautious 90% load factor = 23,490 passengers. And for Tanzania it's 474 E190 flights = 45,504 seats @ say a cautious 80% load factor = 36,403 passengers. Total passengers for the 31 day month therefore = 59,893. For a full year, on current volumes, that would be say 705,000 passengers - which is less than the 2015 and 2016 volumes, the last we have, of c.790,000, but of course with a much lower cost base (cheaper fleet costs, running costs, pilots, head office). Finally, let's say $85 income per passenger (reasonable?), would be say c.$60m pa. Happy to take adjusted figures based on better info!

I see there's an (undated) announcement on the fastjet website: "Fastjet achieves 91% network-wide on time performance during January "Fastjet is proud to announce that during January 2018 we achieved a 91% network-wide on time performance. 996 flights were operated across 5 countries and 11 routes. A 91% on time performance was achieved in Zimbabwe, 94% in Tanzania and 82% in Mozambique." Wonder of wonders, we have some facts and figures!

I've found the latest Places magazine... Looks quite good at an initial glance, but couldn't see any material news for us in it; and the map (page 43) doesn't show Kigoma of course. https://user-buey55r.cld.bz/Places-Magazine-Feb-March-2018-ZW

...new route now on the map: https://www.fastjet.com/en/plan-your-flight/route-overview

There are reports that the EU sanctions against Zimbabwe may be lifted in due course; this would presumably benefit the economy and fastjet: https://bulawayo24.com/news/national/126506

Well said, fatherelmer. I entirely agree with all your comments (especially: (a) likely timing; (b) issues on the 'to do' list that we are waiting for; (c) communication skills of Nico and his team) ! And a Happy Christmas and an excellent New Year to all FJETers.

The impression I have is that the Facebook moaning mainly relates to Mozambique, where the LCC pricing model is unknown, and they are therefore 'behind the curve', so to speak. Given that we set up an airline there from scratch in a month or so, it is perhaps not surprising that explaining the pricing wasn't top of the list. But fastjet need to get on top of this locally, before things fester.

PJMINVEST, I agree with you (that "Nico said we would be in profit during the last quarter not For the last quarter"). In fact I will be ecstatic if during December we make an operational profit in all three bases (Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique), as this would be a firm foundation for a share price hike. Hopefully the big fleet problems/changes are behind us, and as we go into December we do seem to be operating moderately well on all fronts. Any contributions to Group costs from the existing operations would be a good sign, as these central costs should stay relatively fixed as we expand, eg into South Africa with FedAir, new routes with the three ATR72s, etc.

Yes Fjetcrazy, we now have three liveried E145s - but if we are talking style, the best one is ZS-DFC, 'cos that has a pure white base without the original Solenta cheat line and grey lower area of the other two. The 'purer' fastjet livery, like the original A319s and the new E190s, is especially better for E145s, as they are already rather long and thin! In my opinion, obviously. See ZS-DFC at https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8759185

Some interesting views from the Mozambican Transport Minister Carlos Mesquita at the fastjet launch, including that �The government deposits great hope in air transport, as a catalyst and a strategic industry for valuing the vast resources spread across the national territory, and to guarantee the accelerated development of our economy.� The whole approach seems more informed than I expected for Mozambique - let's hope it continues into action! Full report at http://allafrica.com/stories/201711070128.html

Further proof it exists - this is the best picture I have seen yet of 5H-FJH in its new livery - not easy to find it, as the caption says it's 5H-FJA... https://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/975764/5h-fja-fastjet-embraer-erj-190-190-100/ Excellent.

I know I�m the eternal optimist... but we can recover with a less fragile infrastructure; over the next two weeks, we should have: a) the entry into service of our first E190 in Tanzania, from 27 October, and b) the launch of three internal routes in Mozambique, from 3 November. Both of these will be a significant step forward. By the end of the year, we could also have: a) permission for and launch of the LUN-HAR route (announced, but it seems to be bogged down), b) permission for and launch of HAR-BUL route (following press reports of more �open skies� for Zimbabwe), c) crucially, the announcement/launch of the first Fedair/fastjet routes in South Africa, �expected to commence in Q4 2017/Q1 2018� (RNS 29 September, announcing the brand licence, etc.). Achieving one or more of these will be a noticeable step forward. There are also the three ATR72s apparently available soon for additional duties, and other irons in the fire. So, given we are �on track to reach [our] target of cashflow breakeven in Q4 2017� (RNS 29 September), these extra income streams should be transformational over the next few months, as they increasingly cover the fixed central costs.