25 Mar 2020 07:00
fastjet Plc
("fastjet", the "Company" or the "Group")
Trading Update and Impact of Coronavirus
25 March 2020
fastjet, the low-cost African airline, today provides an update on current trading following announcements by the Government of South Africa and the Government of Zimbabwe regarding efforts to contain and control the rapid escalation of coronavirus in their respective countries.
South Africa will see a country wide "lockdown" from midnight on Thursday 26 March 2020 to midnight on Thursday 16 April 2020, both days inclusive. The Zimbabwean Government has also introduced strict measures, including banning all non-essential travel.
In light of the above, the Company has taken the decision to suspend all of fastjet Zimbabwe's flight operations from Friday 27 March 2020 until Thursday 16 April 2020, both days inclusive and during this time, the majority of the Company's employees will be working from home or on leave.
In addition, the Company's FedAir business is seeing significant deferrals of existing bookings to late 2020 and away from the traditional high seasons of Easter and European and USA summer holiday season over July, August and September.
As at 23 March 2020, the Group had cash reserves of US$ 2.0m with no restricted cash. Of the Group's US$ 2.0m cash reserves, US$ 0.2m is in Zimbabwe and currently unrestricted.
The Company is continuing to assess the situation daily and will provide further updates in due course.
This announcement is released by fastjet plc and contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
For the purposes of MAR and Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055, this announcement is being made on behalf of the Company by Kris Jaganah, Group Chief Financial Officer.
fastjet plc | Tel: +27 (0) 10 070 5151 |
Mark Hurst, Group Interim Chief Executive Officer Kris Jaganah, Group Chief Financial Officer |
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Liberum Capital Limited Nominated Adviser and Broker | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3100 2222 |
Andrew Godber Clayton Bush James Greenwood William Hall |
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Citigate Dewe Rogerson Financial PR | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7638 9571 |
Angharad Couch Toby Moore Nick Hayns |
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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Fastjet Plc
fastjet is a multi-award winning (including Skytrax World Airline Awards Best Low-Cost Airline in Africa 2017) low-cost African airline for everyone, who began its flight operations in Tanzania in November 2012 flying passengers from Dar es Salaam to just two domestic destinations - Kilimanjaro and Mwanza.
Today, fastjet's route network includes operations predominately in Zimbabwe and South Africa together with interline arrangements with carriers such as Emirates and Qatar. The airline has flown over 3.0 million passengers with an impressive aggregate on-time performance above 90%, establishing itself as a punctual, reliable, and affordable carrier.