Bid to bring low cost air travel to Africa step closer

Sir Stelios, who first revealed his plans to launch a new budget carrier called Fastjet in September last year, has taken a 5 per cent stake in a new venture which is expected to operate in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola.

The service came a step closer to reality after investment company Rubicon bought the aviation arm of African group Lonrho in a deal worth £55m.

Sir Stelios’s easyGroup will own 5 per cent of Rubicon, which will eventually rebrand Lonrho’s planes as Fastjet.

In addition, Ed Winter, founding director of low-cost airline Go and former chief operating officer of easyJet, will become chief executive of Rubicon.

After plans for Fastjet were unveiled last year, easyJet vowed to fight Sir Stelios if the new carrier infringed on the rights of the airline and its shareholders.

Following yesterday’s announcement, Sir Stelios said: “This is another small but significant step in bringing the dream of low cost air travel to millions of people in Africa – the aviation industry’s last frontier.

“Past experience shows by halving fares, a successful low-cost carrier can encourage those people, who have never previously travelled by air, to fly.

“For Africa, with its densely populated cities separated by great distances – this means a potential new market of mill- ions.”

Rubicon said plans for launching Fastjet are under way but not yet finalised and the introduction of an “appropriate fleet” of modern jet aircraft may need extra funding.

Sir Stelios earlier this year lost a battle with the easyJet board when shareholders overwhelmingly backed its multi-million pound pay plans.

Sir Stelios, who speaks for 37.4 per cent of easyJet’s shares, failed to convince enough investors to join him in voting against the company’s remuneration report, as well as the re-election of four directors including chairman Sir Michael Rake.