It seems Fastjet is eyeing up 1Time carefully, and is in negotiations to buy the carrier.
1Time was forced to suspend flights in November when it ran into serious cashflow problems.
However, Fastjet sees this as an easy entry into South African aviation market. The plan would be for Fastjet to pay a nominal fee to acquire the airline and reach a settlement with 1time’s creditors.
1Time would be re-branded to FastJet. It would ultimately re-brand the carrier under the Fastjet name.
However, it seems that Fasttjet want to get this done… well fast. According to Fastjet chief executive Ed Winter:
“If this transaction goes ahead and the timescales are extremely challenging – we would hope to get 1time flying again in time for the Christmas holiday period”
“Flights would initially be operated by a number of aircraft from the 1time fleet including Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) MD-82s, MD-83s and MD-87s, but restructuring plans would see a rapid re-fleeting with modern Airbus A319 aircraft.”
“The acquisition of 1time would be a complementary strategic fit for Fastjet’s growth into a pan-African low-cost carrier and the synergies with Fastjet would potentially increase the number of available route networks from South Africa into the rest of Africa,
Considering the Christmas holiday period is right around the corner (less than 4 weeks at the time of writing), it’s a mighty challenge that they’ve thrown down.
Whilst Fastjet itself is running Airbus A319’s, 1Time is an old McDonnell Douglas shop – who operated a total of 11 planes. Whilst some love MD-80’s, they are heavy fuel drinkers and cost a lot to operate.
Still – Fastjet wanted an easy path into operations in South Africa – it may have just got it- subject to board, parent company and regulatory approval.
