Africa-focused low cost airline Fastjet launched its inaugural flight between Tanzania and Nairobi this week ending Kenya Airways monopoly on the East African route, the carrier’s chief executive told Proactive Investors.

Ed Winters, CEO Fastjet, said the airline was now flying the Dar es Salaam – Nairobi route that will link the two cities and include tourists’ attractive Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro.

“For a long time now we’ve been looking to get our rights to fly into Kenya. There are 8 million people that fly this route … and up until now so many people have had to travel by road,” Winters said.

“Kenya Airways have had a monopoly on this route for years and years, and the public got fed up by their high fares. As soon as we announced we are on the route the fares halved.”

Fastjet indicated in a statement on Monday that fares between the two countries had dropped by  as much as 40 percent after they announced they were entering the market.

“The fact is that competition is good for consumers. It brings choice and it brings air fares down,” said Jimmy Kibati, Fastjet general manager for East Africa.