fastjet

Troubled budget airline Fastjet (LON:FJET) reported a slump in revenue on Friday, after a significant fall in passenger numbers.

The group’s losses narrowed in the year to December, but revenue fell by 32.6 percent to hit $46.2 million. Operating losses were 61 percent lower at $25.3 million, compared with $65.6 million the previous year.

Revenue per seat rose 30 percent to $60.9 from $46.9, but the airline blamed the fall in total revenue on weaker passenger numbers, which fell 31 percent for the year compared to the previous year.

The weak results will come as a disappointment to investors, who are already on edge after an announcement earlier this week that said that without an injection of funds, the airline could go under.

“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.”

Shares in Fastjet are currently trading up 112 percent on the news, at 6.90 (0823GMT).

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Miranda is the online editor of UK Investor Magazine. Her interests include private equity, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, gender equality and coffee.