New African no-frills carrier Fastjet carried just under 30,000 passengers during its first month of operation.
The new airline, which is being backed by Easyjet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, launched domestic flights within Tanzania on November 29.
Figures show that Fastjet carried 29,547 passengers during December with a load factor of 78.9 per cent. The airline carried a total of 31,315 customers up to the end of 2012.
Fastjet CEO Ed Winter said: “To have achieved a 78.9 per cent load factor and carry almost 30,000 passengers is a fantastic result for the first month of Fastjet operations and clearly demonstrates the latent demand for low-cost reliable air travel in Africa.
“Press concerns over infrastructure have proved unfounded with no scheduled Fastjet flights cancelled and 99.6 per cent arriving within 15 minutes of schedule.”
The firm, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has also raised £1 million in extra funding by issuing new shares in the company.
This new cash will be used for “general working capital and expansion of the Fastjet network in Africa”.
Fastjet has ambitions to become a pan-African carrier and plans to expand into Kenya and across the continent.