Soon after Airtel Malawi announced a restructuring programme that has resulted in the retrenchment of some the company’s workers, FastJet has closed it’s Tanzania-Malawi route.
FastJet has confirmed that it has stopped flying to Malawi with their last flight schedule on 8th February this year. In an announcement that has been made by the airline, no reason has been given as to why they have decided to take such an action.
But reports that Malawi24 was unable to independently verify with absolute certainty state that Malawi’s dwindling economy is the sole reason the company has wound up its operation from Malawi.
Local business persons have lamented over the sad development. In an interview with Malawi24, Mrs Ndaona Munkhondya, a Malawian business lady, said that she has been saddened by the news. She added, this will force her to start using road transport which is time consuming.
People’s Trading Centre (PTC) closed 20 of its retail shops across the country for similar reasons. The economic situation for Malawi has of late been very pathetic. There has been low productivity forcing business congromerates to record more losses than profits.
President Peter Mutharika faces an uphill to climb in order to reverse the economic situation with reportsindicating that more companies are set to follow the FastJet’s route, a development which has potential of leading to hundreds of thousand job-cuts.
Source: Malawi24
