Fastjet chief financial officer Nick Caine has quit and will leave next year.
“Nick has notified the company of his intention to return to Australia in 2016 in order to continue his career nearer to his family and his home,” the African low-cost carrier said in a statement this morning.
“The search for a successor is currently underway and a further announcement will be made in due course.
“Nick will continue with Fastjet until mid 2016 to allow time for a suitable candidate to be found and support an orderly transition.”
The airline’s chief executive, Ed Winter, said: “Nick has made an invaluable contribution to the development of Fastjet, in particular in restructuring the finance function and in developing our aircraft acquisition structure.
“We will all be sad to see Nick go but fully understand his desire to work closer to his family.”
Meanwhile, Fastjet’s operations in Tanzania saw passenger numbers rise by 33% to 76,595 in September.
But the load factor plunged by ten percentage points year-on-year to 64% as capacity increased by 15%.
The airline’s fourth aircraft joined the fleet in Tanzania on September 1 allowing for the introduction of daily flights between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg. The frequency of flights on other routes also increased.
Winter said: “As outlined in our interim results statement on September 28, difficult trading conditions in Tanzania have placed pressure on revenues and load factors.
“In light of this, and a significant increase in capacity, we are pleased to have achieved a load factor of 64%.”
He added: “I am also delighted to report that we are in the final stages of the Air Operator Certificate application process in Zimbabwe, with the demonstration flight having been completed on September 30.”