Masha ups Fastjet Tanzania stake

Dar es Salaam. Former Home Affairs minister Lawrence Masha has raised his stake in Fastjet Tanzania from the previous four per cent to 68 per cent.

That comes hard on the heels of the company plans to purchase all shares from the mother company, Fastjet Plc, and to become a wholly-owned Tanzanian airline.

Speaking yesterday to The Citizen, Mr Masha, who was on November 6, 2018, appointed as the first executive chairman of the airline, said last week he bought 47 per cent of the company shares owned by locals and other 17 owned by Fastjet Plc.

That means he is now the majority shareholder, leaving the remaining stake in the hands of South African Hein Kaiser, who owns 32 per cent stake of the airline. The plan to purchase all stake from the mother company and become a Tanzanian entity came a month after Fastjet Plc had on September announced that it was set to stop all funding to Fastjet Tanzania with immediate effect.

However yesterday, the company’s public relations and marketing executive, Ms Lucy Mbogoro, said the company was looking for strategic investors.

Fastjet Plc is a British/South African-based holding company for a group of low-cost carriers that operate in Africa.

The company’s stated aim is to become the continent’s first low-cost, pan-African airline, and the operation was initially created with the acquisition of Fly540. Flights in Fastjet’s own name commenced in November 2012 in Tanzania.

The strategy is to create locally incorporated airlines or a series of licensees to operate services, using a common branding, operational standards and sales platform.