Fastjet (Dar es Salaam) is set to withdraw from the Malawian market citing a depreciating Kwacha (Malawi's currency) as well as government's unwillingness to grant it 8th freedom cabotage traffic rights for flights between Lilongwe and Blantyre despite earlier assurances it would.

“Fastjet had been working closely with the Malawian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development and the Malawi Civil Aviation Authority to secure the necessary clearances to allow us to extend our Lilongwe route to Blantyre, which is the commercial centre of Malawi," Fastjet Chief Commercial Officer Richard Bodin told the Malawi Times newspaper. “Unfortunately, these clearances have not been forthcoming, despite other international airlines, including Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International), South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) and Kenya Airways (KQ, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) being allowed to fly to Blantyre.”

The ch-aviation route capacity tool shows that on the Lilongwe-Blantyre route, Ethiopian surprisingly holds 45.25% of the route's weekly capacity followed by Malawi Airlines (3W, Lilongwe) with 39.25%, and Kenya Airways with 15.50%. Local operator Ulendo Airlink (Lilongwe) also plies the route albeit using smaller turboprops.

Defending the Malawian government, Minister of Transport Francis Kasaira told a press conference earlier this week that the decision not to award the LCC cabotage rights was based on the poor quality of infrastructure at Blantyre's Chileka International Airport.

“The airport is not in good condition, that is why we allow a few airlines to land there. We need to improve the runways and terminal buildings,” he said adding that Fastjet should blame its business model and not the country for its decision to withdraw from Malawi. “They should just say they have failed in business instead of finding the government as scapegoat. Their fares were too low to sustain in the airline business. They had very few passengers. They thought by offering low fares they would attract more passengers but this never happened.”

According to the GDS, Fastjet's last Dar es Salaam-Lilongwe flight is scheduled for February 8.