Regional low cost carrier services delay

The delayed launch of low cost carrier operations across the region means that travelers will for now continue to shoulder higher flight charges.

The delayed launch of low cost carrier operations across the region means that travelers will for now continue to shoulder higher flight charges.

Following last year’s events, it was expected that Fastjet, a budget carrier that bought Fly540 would launch flights within the region for as low as $50 before taxes for one route tickets, a move that would spur competition and eventually bring down the flight fares on the market.
In the face of this, Kenya Airways reiterated with a plan to launch Jumbo jet— a low cost carrier with operations expected early this year.

During the same time, Emirates airlines announced plans to partner with Africa-focused low-cost carriers in order to deepen its reach and footprint across the continent. However, all these plans have stayed on paper.

Even though Fastjet launched in East Africa, starting in Tanzania in November last year, its anticipated effect on ticket prices and travellers traffic is yet to be felt as they are yet to roll out across the region they have not had any flights in Tanzania.

In Kenya, Fastjet has continued to operate as Fly540 while for Uganda; the company only published a flight plan indicating daily flights between Entebbe and Dar es Salaam. But this is yet to materialise.
In an interview with Daily Monitor, Mr Ignie Igundura, the civil aviation authority (CAA) spokesperson was not sure of when Fastjet would have flights in Uganda.

“I am not aware of their plan and when they will actually launch flights to and from Entebbe. You can only get this information from Fastjet management. When, we get these details, we will communicate,” Mr Igundura said.

Furthermore, Fast jet’s move to buy out assets of another low-cost airline and use them in its East African operations has further delayed as the former failed to reach a settlement with the latter’s creditors.
Meanwhile, Mr Chris Karanja, the Kenya Airways (KQ), communications manager could also not give details of when KQ would have it low cost carrier-Jumbo Jet operating.

He said: “We are not ready to share this information. A team was hired to have a review of this project. This team should be able to provide some indications and insights before the end of the first quarter of this year. I am not sure about when we will launch because this will only depend on the report from the team.”

In the absence of these budget carriers, flight charges will remain high.
However, following a bad aviation year characterised by major drops in flight traffic and profits according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) statistics, airlines are hopeful that 2013 will be better.

Recently, Mr Benjamin Puissant, the Brussels Airlines country manager for Uganda and South Sudan said: “2012 was a hard aviation year not only here but also all over the world. This meant that airlines had to find innovative ways of staying in business. ”

nkalungi@ug.nationmedia.com