26 Mar 2013 07:00
26 March 2013
fastjet plc
("fastjet" or the "Company")
100,000+ passenger milestone; credit card bookings go live
fastjet, Africa's low-cost airline, last week carried its 100,000th passenger since commencing flights from Dar es Salaam on 29th November 2012. Fastjet is also delighted to announce the launch of its credit and debit card payment solution in co-operation with Wirecard AG, allowing consumers and travel agents from across the globe the ability to access and pay for seats of the rapidly growing fastjet route network.
fastjet has partnered with credit card acquirer Wirecard to facilitate bookings using Visa and MasterCard. This significant enhancement is available today on the fastjet website. With Wirecard's international footprint, fastjet now has the opportunity to transact across the world with an increasing number of card payment solutions.
fastjet Chief Commercial Officer Richard Bodin, said:
"Whilst credit and debit cards usage is not large in East Africa (less than 10% of the population in East Africa have credit or debit cards), we have been inundated with requests from outside Africa for people looking to purchase seats on the fastjet website, and I am delighted to say that having partnered with Wirecard we are now in the position to be able to facilitate these bookings.
"This coupled with our hugely popular Mobile Money payment facility really means that our customer base has the full suite of payment processes available to them."
Wirecard Executive Vice President Travel & Transportation Jörg Möller, added:
"We are very pleased to support fastjet in its expansion of payment methods. For us, Africa is a very interesting market as our strength and competence in international payment and risk management solutions are especially valuable here. Our solutions help airlines to operate their business more efficiently and risk-low."
fastjet expects up to 15% of future bookings to be made using credit and debit cards with Mobile Money payments already accounting for as much as 25% of sales.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
About fastjet plc
fastjet plc is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. For more information see www.fastjet.com