384. Fastjet Zimbabwe's 10-year playbook: discipline, fleet simplicity, and the next stage of growth

Hello and welcome to Aviadev Insight Africa podcast, the podcast offering a window to your world of African aviation with your host, John Howell, CEO and founder of Aviadev Africa.

For those of you who don't know us, we are a platform dedicated to enhancing route and fleet development to, from, and within the sub-Saharan African region.

And we are back after a brief summer hiatus from our regular programming to continue our series of CEO interviews and Joining me today is Donald Hugh Cortez, who is the business CEO and country head of FastJet Zimbabwe.

And together we're going to look back on how FastJet Zimbabwe has navigated over 10 years serving the country and the region, alongside talking fleet and route strategy and also what's up and coming and what's next for the airline.

Now, Don himself started his aviation career as cabin crew with the UK airline before moving into training, HR and people leadership, and later led an international consulting business advising clients worldwide on training compliance and risk.

But then he joined the Fastjet group back in 2013.

So he's been there from the start and was part of the team that established Fastjet Zimbabwe in 2015.

And after more than a decade with the business, took up this role back in 2024, bringing his Leadership philosophy built on clarity, accountability and a deep belief in aviation's power to connect communities across Africa to the role.

So with that brief intro, welcome to the podcast, Don.

It's great to have you with us.

Thank you, John.

Thank you for inviting us to join you.

No, great.

Now let's give the listeners a little bit of a little secret and let them in behind the curtain a little bit.

And that is that Don and I actually recorded a podcast a few months ago around the time or just after the time that Fast Jet Zimbabwe had celebrated its 10 year anniversary.

However, there was so much upheaval at the time because, of course, there was the Iran war.

It had a real impact on on everybody's plans.

And we were trying to get to grips with what it meant.

And so we decided to rerecord the podcast, which is what we're doing today and look back on these things.

Now, the airline and all of us is getting used to this new world.

And, you know, since inception, Fastjet has seen so much turbulence, so much change, but has now carried over two million passengers.

in a market that has seen that turbulence and is always seeing turbulence.

So talk to us a little bit, Don, about the key to surviving and growing over those 10 years when so many others have, of course, struggled to do so.

Hello and welcome to Aviadev Insight Africa podcast, the podcast offering a window to your world of African aviation with your host, John Howell, CEO and founder of Aviadev Africa.

For those of you who don't know us, we are a platform dedicated to enhancing route and fleet development to, from, and within the sub-Saharan African region.

And we are back after a brief summer hiatus from our regular programming to continue our series of CEO interviews and Joining me today is Donald Hugh Cortez, who is the business CEO and country head of FastJet Zimbabwe.

And together we're going to look back on how FastJet Zimbabwe has navigated over 10 years serving the country and the region, alongside talking fleet and route strategy and also what's up and coming and what's next for the airline.

Now, Don himself started his aviation career as cabin crew with the UK airline before moving into training, HR and people leadership, and later led an international consulting business advising clients worldwide on training compliance and risk.

But then he joined the Fastjet group back in 2013.

So he's been there from the start and was part of the team that established Fastjet Zimbabwe in 2015.

And after more than a decade with the business, took up this role back in 2024, bringing his Leadership philosophy built on clarity, accountability and a deep belief in aviation's power to connect communities across Africa to the role.

So with that brief intro, welcome to the podcast, Don.

It's great to have you with us.

Thank you, John.

Thank you for inviting us to join you.

No, great.

Now let's give the listeners a little bit of a little secret and let them in behind the curtain a little bit.

And that is that Don and I actually recorded a podcast a few months ago around the time or just after the time that Fast Jet Zimbabwe had celebrated its 10 year anniversary.

However, there was so much upheaval at the time because, of course, there was the Iran war.

It had a real impact on on everybody's plans.

And we were trying to get to grips with what it meant.

And so we decided to rerecord the podcast, which is what we're doing today and look back on these things.

Now, the airline and all of us is getting used to this new world.

And, you know, since inception, Fastjet has seen so much turbulence, so much change, but has now carried over two million passengers.

in a market that has seen that turbulence and is always seeing turbulence.

So talk to us a little bit, Don, about the key to surviving and growing over those 10 years when so many others have, of course, struggled to do so.