The board of fastjet has appointed of Nico Bezuidenhout as chief executive of the company.

Bezuidenhout will take up his position and join the board as an executive director on August 1st, 2016.

He will be joining fastjet from Mango Airlines, the low-cost carrier subsidiary of South African Airways, where he has been chief executive since Mango commenced operations ten years ago. 

During his tenure, Bezuidenhout grew the airline’s market share to 25 per cent of the South African domestic air travel market and the fleet to ten Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

He also achieved the lowest unit cost within the South African aviation industry through high aircraft utilisation and sustained good load factors.

In addition to playing a pivotal role in the success of Mango, which has been profitable in eight of the past ten years, Bezuidenhout has also twice acted in the capacity of interim chief executive of its parent company.

fastjet chairman Colin Child said:  “The Board is delighted that Nico will be joining fastjet as chief executive.

“He brings strong commercial and strategic skills and a wealth of experience of operating a low-cost carrier. 

“This experience, together with his detailed knowledge of the markets in which fastjet operates, will be invaluable to the Company as it seeks to capture the growth opportunities in the region.”