Fastjet shares dive as it warns revenues will miss expectations

FastJet’s shares have plunged 10% as the African airline warned that revenues would miss forecasts for this year and next after flying a succession of half-empty planes.

The AIM-listed company blamed the Tanzanian presidential elections in October for curtailing government air travel.

This autumn it reported that planes were just 63% full and said it would stop giving monthly passenger figures.

Now the low-cost airline is also warning of currency headwinds and said markets remain challenging, although it is attempting to cut costs.

More optimistically, fastjet said it was close to getting international route approvals in Zimbabwe and expected to launch a “significant” network in the country “early in the new year”.