Fastjet chief executive Ed Winter is stepping down earlier than planned after pressure from the airline’s major shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
Sir Stelios, who holds a 12% stake, had also called for the departure of Krista Bates, Fastjet’s general counsel. The company announced yesterday that she will step down immediately.
In a letter to Fastjet chairman Colin Child, Sir Stelios said he had lost faith in the management and current board and warned the company will soon run out of cash ‘unless the board does some serious cost cutting’.
The African budget airline has issued three profit warnings in the last year.
Initially, Winter was due to stay on as an advisor for 12 months while Fastjet sought a replacement, but he will now leave this Friday.
He had been with the airline for four years.
Winter said: “I feel privileged to have had this unique and exciting opportunity to lead an incredible team in changing the face of African aviation. We have been pioneers in bringing a true low-cost airline model to sub-Saharan Africa."
