South African shutdown heaps pressure on bedevilled Fastjet

Fastjet, already under substantial financial pressure, is having to cope with the additional burden of the coronavirus outbreak after the South African and Zimbabwean govts imposed travel restrictions. Fastjet Group, which has been working to sell its Zimbabwean arm, says the South African govt is locking down the country from March 26 to April 16, while Zimbabwe is banning all non-essential travel as part of its measures to contain the outbreak. The company is suspending all Zimbabwe flight operations for 3 weeks from March 27. It adds that its FedAir operation is experiencing “significant deferrals” of current bookings to late 2020, away from the typical peak seasons around the Easter and summer holiday periods. <br/>