African budget airline Fastjet Plc said its Chief Executive Ed Winter would step down.

Winter will remain at its helm until a new chief executive is appointed and after that he will continue in an advisory role for an agreed period of time, the London-listed company said.

Headhunters would be appointed to start the search for a new CEO, Fastjet said.

Winters, who was the CEO of Fastjet since 2012, has also been chief operating officer at EasyJet Plc, low cost airline Go and also CEO of National Air Services in Saudi Arabia.

The budget carrier's re-entry in the Kenyan market has raised hope of lower air fares on the Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Eldoret routes. The airline also announced plans to introduce flights between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa later in 2016, in yet another threat to Kenya Airways' dominance in the region.