The commercial division of the High Court in Dar es Salaam has ordered the liquidation of Fastjet Airlines Ltd. following an application by a creditor firm.
Court documents seen by The Citizen newspaper said Swissport Tanzania had brought the case citing around TZS2.02 billion Tanzanian shillings (USD878,000) worth of debts. The groundhandler's chief executive, Mrisho Yassin, said that Fastjet had owed them TZS1.6 billion (USD395,350) and USD183,000 before it was grounded.
Biseko Nyagabona of SBN Attorneys has since been appointed the official liquidator. A general creditors meeting will be held on December 2 at the Kisenga Halls, Millennium Towers between 1000-1400L.
London-listed Fastjet Group had owned a 49% stake in Fastjet Airlines Ltd. trading as Fastjet (Dar es Salaam) until late 2018 when it sold the shareholding to former executive Lawrence Masha. While Masha had agreed to continue operating the carrier under the fastjet brand, the airline was forced to suspend operations in December last year given it did not have the minimum number of aircraft required by Tanzanian law.
Masha has repeatedly stated his intention to relaunch the airline and has touted plans to secure fresh investment but to no avail. As it stands, the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) is likely to reject for a second time, an application lodged on Fastjet's behalf for an Operator's Licence (OL) covering scheduled and chartered flights. The application will be heard at a public sitting due to take place on November 27.
