With ambitious plans to create Africa’s first pan-continental airline, fastjet will bring
international standards of safety, quality, security and reliability.

Low-cost is quite simply the avoidance of costly frills, offering customers the lowest possible
fares in addition to pay-as-you travel extras. This affords passengers the flexibility to pay for
additional services such as a bag or refreshment rather than having to pay for it regardless
whether you want it or not.

Importantly fastjet low-cost definitely does not mean low quality. Despite the many challenges
that exist outside our control we will be open, honest, transparent and communicative to
ensure that your travel arrangements remain with the least amount of interruption.

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Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of EasyJet, is set to launch a low-cost airline in Africa this year after taking a 5% stake in a new venture FASTJET PLC.

The easyGroup tycoon, who is embroiled in a long-running boardroom battle with easyJet, is backing a carrier that will operate under his Fastjet airline and be run by former easyJet executives.

Fastjet will operate from Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola. The ambition is to carry more than 12 million passengers a year, from the 500,000 at present, by cashing in on demand for regional travel from a burgeoning African middle-class.

Haji-Ioannou said the move would help bring low-cost air travel to more Africans. "This is another small but significant step in bringing the dream of low-cost air travel to millions of people in Africa – the aviation industry's last frontier. Past experience shows that by halving fares, a successful low-cost carrier can encourage those people, who have never previously travelled by air, to fly."

or get taken out on first trading day when buy/sell spread is wide

I am struggling to think of a good reason to buy into this company. I can think of a shed load of reasons not to!
Just my opinion, but the risks far outweigh the positives.

Pick another airline if you have to HC,

Sleazy a better option inmo

Proposed Fundraising
Highlights:
· The Stabilisation Plan that commenced late last year has been successfully executed with the Company on track to reach its target of cashflow breakeven in Q4 2017.

· The Company has made material progress in the past 12 months placing the business on a substantially more stable platform
o Increased revenue and decreased costs;
o Monthly profitability has been achieved by Tanzanian operations; and
o The Company has had its first cash-flow positive month in Zimbabwe in August 2017.

· fastjet has phased out all expatriate staff, concluded the closure of its Gatwick head office and successfully migrated the Head Office from the UK to South Africa.

· As a result, fastjet today announces a proposed fundraising to support its growth initiatives by way of an accelerated book build and a subscription to raise gross cash proceeds of not less than US$44m, which is strongly supported by the Company's major institutional shareholders, including Solenta Aviation Holdings Limited ("SAHL") who will increase their holding and become a 29.9% shareholder in fastjet post the fundraising.

· As part of its growth initiatives the Company will enter into a number of agreements to expand into South Africa and Mozambique
o Brand licence agreement with Federal Airlines (Pty) Ltd ("Fedair"), an established profitable airline with a fleet of four owned aircraft, operating 17 aircraft and with a South African air operator's certificate ("AOC"); and
o Brand Licence Agreement with Solenta Aviation Mozambique Ltd ("SAM"), a business currently operating charter services in the Oil and Gas industry within the country and utilising its existing AOC in Mozambique for the launch of fastjet Mozambique.

· fastjet will also enter into an additional agreement giving it access to three ATR 72-600 aircraft for 10 years equipping fastjet with the appropriate aircraft to benefit from these new market opportunities.

· As part of its expansion plans, the Board has also decided it intends to evaluate a dual listing of the Company on the AltX market of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in the next 12 months.

· The fundraising together with the new agreements will allow fastjet to expand its brand network to now cover South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Zambia as well as diversify revenue streams and lay the foundations for future profitable growth in a major step forward in fastjet's long term ambition to become the leading pan African low cost airline.

Interim Results for the six months to 30 June 2017
Highlights
· New executive team; Board reconstituted
· Stabilisation Plan substantially completed; fastjet now well-positioned for targeted geographic expansion
· Losses down 57% year on year
· Negative cash flow from operating activities reduced to US$(21.4m) (2016: US$(25.6m))
· On track to achieve target of cash flow break-even by Q4 17
· On 29 June 2017, fastjet purchased its brand from easyGroup Holdings Ltd for $2.5m


Operational headlines
· Fleet adjustments delivering clear benefits
Ø Revenue per seat up 30% year on year
Ø Load factors up 18% year on year
· Move of fastjet's headquarters from UK to Africa completed
· Growing passenger flows from the Emirates Interline agreement
· Named Africa's Leading Low-Cost Airline 2016 at the World Travel Awards and Best LCC in Africa at 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards


Commenting on the results, fastjet Chief Executive Officer Nico Bezuidenhout, said: "The first six months of 2017 was both a rewarding and challenging period for fastjet.

"I am pleased with the considerable progress made during the period, with significant cost reductions across the business, the successful migration of fastjet's headquarters from Gatwick to South Africa and a renewed commercial impetus that, as expected, is delivering real benefits. We have focused on successfully implementing the Stabilisation Plan announced a year ago, while simultaneously examining potential commercial opportunities.

"As the Stabilisation Plan was delivered, improvements in distribution, reach and marketing efficiency drove yield and volume, and efficiencies in average fares, distribution channels and currency mix were achieved. This resulted in cost efficiencies and revenue improvement with a 30% increase in revenue per available seat. Average load factors for the period were 65.4%, up from 47.8% in the first half of 2016.

"Our re-fleeting plan is on track and by the end of the year fastjet will have replaced its fleet of A319s with three Embraer E145 and two Embraer E190 aircraft and have launched in at least one new market in the region. fastjet has taken full brand ownership of its trademarks and identity from easyGroup, empowering the business to further mould itself into an Africa-appropriate, relevant and operationally-suited business.

"I am proud of our achievements, which have occurred in a relatively short timeframe. While there remains a lot of work to be done, our initiatives are delivering clear, positive results and we are on track to achieve our target of cash flow break-even by the fourth quarter of this year. Having stabilised the business, we are looking forward with confidence to the next stage of fastjet's development and geographic expansion."

StockMarketWire.com
African budget airline Fastjet trimmed losses in the year through December as costs fell 46% but revenue slumped 32.6% amid a fall in passenger numbers. The company also announced it would tap investors for more funds to shore up working capital for the remainder of the year.

For the 12 months to 31 December, losses before tax narrowed to $24.4m from $67.5m the previous year, revenue fell 32.6% to £46.2m and operating losses were 61% lower at $25.3m compared with $65.6m the previous year.

Revenue per seat rose 30% to $60.9 from $46.9

The firm blamed the fall in total revenue on weaker passenger number, which fell 31% for the year compared to the previous year, as the company nearly halved its capacity as part of its cost cutting programme.

Total costs decreased by 46% to $70.7m from $136.2m.

Fuel accounted for 19% of total costs, while maintenance, reserves and engineering of the aircraft accounted for 8% of costs.

FastJet also said that it would raise at least $10m in a share placement - this comes after the company warned earlier this week that a severe funding crunch may cause it to halt trading.

'In 2017, the successful implementation of our Stabilisation Plan saw us realign our network, withdraw from loss making routes, reconfigure our fleet, migrate the Group's headquarters to Africa, and significantly reduce our cost base. These actions have resulted in a substantially reduced loss for 2017, said Nico Bezuidenhout, fastjet Chief Executive Officer. 'As part of our targeted network expansion strategy, the first fastjet branded flight in Mozambique took off last November and over the next 18 months we have a programme of further measured expansion of services in Mozambique and, subject to appropriate fleet expansion, new services in South Africa.'

Posting of Open Offer Circular

Posting of Open Offer Circular

fastjet, the low-cost African airline, is pleased to announce that, further to its announcement of 29 June 2018, it will today post a circular (the "Circular") to Qualifying Shareholders regarding an Open Offer of approximately £1.6 million. The Circular will also be made available today on the Company's website www.fastjet.com.

All capitalised terms in this announcement have the same meanings as those given to them in the Circular, unless the context otherwise requires.

The Open Offer is being made to Qualifying Shareholders on the register as at the Record Date, being close of business on 3 July 2018, for up to 20,092,623 Open Offer Shares at 8 pence per Open Offer Share (being the same price as the Issue Price for the Placing) on the basis of:

1 Open Offer Share for every 26 Existing Ordinary Shares

Qualifying Shareholders are also being given the opportunity, provided that they take up their Open Offer Entitlements in full, to apply for additional Open Offer Shares through an Excess Application Facility.

Full details of the Open Offer, including terms and conditions and details on how to accept the Open Offer, are set out in the Circular, which will be posted to Qualifying Shareholders today and available on the Company's website.

Application has been made for the Open Offer Shares to be admitted to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission"), and it is expected that Admission will become effective and that dealings will commence in the Open Offer Shares at 8.00 a.m. on 30 July 2018.

Following the issue of the Open Offer Shares (assuming full take-up under the Open Offer), the enlarged ordinary share capital of the Company will be 637,920,676 Ordinary Shares.

I would be surprised if that is fully subscribed. I can't think of any reason why private investors would throw more money into the pot.