fastjet has announced its passenger statistics for the month of January 2014, carrying 31,241 passengers in Tanzania and achieving a load factor of 60 per cent. 

The average yield per passenger was $88, compared to $46 in January 2013. 

Total revenue for the month was $2.75m, a 128 per cent increase from January 2013 with only a 27 per cent increase in capacity.

The passenger numbers carried by the legacy 540 businesses, particularly in Angola, continued to fall year-on-year as those businesses undergo significant restructuring.

Punctuality remained outstanding with 97 per cent of flights operating on time.

Ed Winter, interim chairman and chief executive of fastjet, said: “I am very satisfied with our performance for January.

“The post-Christmas period is traditionally one of the slowest months of the year but fastjet has avoided deep discounts and has successfully focused on maintaining a strong yield.

“An average yield of $88 per passenger exceeded our expectations and the large growth in yield per passenger year-on-year clearly demonstrates the strong, continuing development of the Tanzanian air travel market and of the fastjet brand.

“Our new Dar es Salaam to Lusaka route is proving particularly popular with the Zambian people. 

“All our flights out of Lusaka have been fully booked and I am confident that this route will grow substantially.”