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Business Reporter
BUDGET airline, fastjet yesterday announced that it will include the first item of checked luggage as well as a snack on all tickets sold. Previously, fastjet charged all luggage and on-board snacks separately. The move follows several months of research into market trends and customer expectations with the airline exchanging its BigSaver and Achiever fares for the new-look, value product.

fastjet chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout yesterday said, “We have listened to our customers and redeveloped our product to better match what travellers on our network expect from a value-airline”.
Mr Bezuidenhout added that fastjet will continue to offer affordable fares for everyone.

“As a pan-African value airline fastjet endeavours to make air travel affordable and accessible in every market we serve.
Beyond the re-development of our product, fastjet is also presently working on wider distribution and more payment methods, growing our network and making it easier for everyone to do business with us,” he said.

fastjet recently launched daily flights between Harare and Bulawayo taking advantage of Government’s resolution to embark on the “managed liberalisation” of the aviation sector to promote destination connectivity for the benefit of travellers.

The coming on board of the Harare-Bulawayo route means fastjet now has four local destinations with more than 100 weekly flights, making it leading airline in Zimbabwe.

fastjet has also added an additional frequency between Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Harare on Wednesdays. As it seeks to grow its footprint on the African continent, fastjet also introduced double, daily flights between Maputo and Beira in Mozambique.

Mr Bezuidenhout said later this year, the aviation firm plans to launch additional routes in both Tanzania and Mozambique with South Africa, as a new market, firmly on its radar.

Mr Bezuidenhout said the new, inclusive fare product will be available on all new routes as well as existing network points from August 6, 2018.

fastjet celebrates three years of operations in Zimbabwe in October and currently flies the Harare-Johannesburg route four times daily.

It also plies the Harare-Victoria Falls route twice daily and up to three times a week between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg.

fastjet boasts of an on-time performance of 90 performance.