fastjet announced yesterday that it has experienced recent operational issues in Tanzania affecting its flight programme caused by a series of bird strikes and maintenance delays. The African low-cost carrier says that these issues have now been resolved and normal operations are expected to resume today.
A combination of bird strikes and maintenance delays has resulted in a number of fastjet flights being delayed and others being cancelled.
fastjet stated that it had evaluated the possibility of leasing an aircraft to cover the reduction in its fleet but was unable to source a suitable aircraft in the required timeframe.
fastjet aircraft encountered an unprecedented total of four ‘bird strikes’ in two weeks, with two large birds colliding with the nose cone of the aircraft, and two hitting the aircraft engines fan blades.
Following each incident the aircraft were thoroughly inspected and repaired by engineers to be certified before return to operation. In addition to this, a fastjet aircraft on scheduled maintenance (C-check) was delayed in returning to operation due to repairs taking much longer than expected.
The cancellations and delays have had a minimal impact on either total passenger numbers or financial results, the airline stated.
Commenting on these events, Ed Winter Chief Executive Officer and interim Chairman said: “We have apologised to all passengers affected by this unfortunate combination of events. Our staff have done everything possible to take care of and communicate with affected customers. It is highly unusual to have had four bird strikes in such a short period of time; these coinciding with a maintenance delay compounded the situation.
“Going forward, we are working with the relevant authorities to improve the management of the Mwanza airfield and surrounding areas to reduce the likelihood of bird strikes in the future. Also, as we execute our plan to add more aircraft to the fleet, we would expect similar circumstances to have a smaller impact on operations.”