Johannesburg - FastJet hired Nico Bezuidenhout, the head of the low-cost unit of South African Airways, as chief executive officer to help revive the UK discount airline following a plunge in its share price and an escalating spat with a top investor.
Bezuidenhout, 39, will start at FastJet on August 1, the London-based company said in a statement on Thursday. He has been CEO of state-owned SAA’s Mango since 2006, when the Johannesburg-based budget airline first started operations, and has served twice as acting head of its parent carrier.
FastJet shares rose 8.7 percent to 28.13 pence at 12:04 p.m. in London, on track for their biggest gain since April 13. The stock has dropped 62 percent this year.
Bezuidenhout “brings strong commercial and strategic skills and a wealth of experience of operating a low-cost carrier,” FastJet Chairman Colin Child said in the statement. “This experience, together with his detailed knowledge of the markets in which FastJet operates, will be invaluable to the company as it seeks to capture the growth opportunities in the region.”
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Bezuidenhout joins FastJet following a tumultuous sixth months for the Africa-focused airline, which warned in March that full-year earnings would miss analyst estimates amid a shrinking cash-pile and weak demand.
The South African executive replaces Ed Winter, FastJet’s founding CEO, who quit in March following pressure from the company’s second-largest investor and EasyJet Plc founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou. FastJet was established four years ago with the ambition of becoming the first discount airline spanning sub-Saharan Africa.
Stelios’s holding company EasyGroup said the entrepreneur couldn’t immediately comment on the appointment.
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Fastjet, based in London, uses five Airbus Group A319 planes, after agreeing to pull a sixth out of operation in April by terminating the lease early. The airline flies to airports in Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Kenya, according to its website.
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