Kenya Airways is expecting to start making profit again in the year 2024.

This has been announced by the airline’s chief executive officer Allan Kilavuka. This will see KQ end the loss-making streak that has now lasted for a period of ten years.

According to Kilavuka, KQ’s turnaround plans are bearing fruit and is set to further reduce costs as well as grow revenues that will see it end a dividend drought in about two years.

“We anticipate that we will be able to break even by 2024 with all the work that is ongoing (which) entails dealing with legacy issues mostly around cost, which are structural and complicated to deal with but we hope that by 2024 we will have broken even,” he said.

According to Kilavuka, KQ has also made progress in talks with most of its aircraft lessors and is expecting to close the negotiations by the end of this month.

The new terms with the leasing firms are expected to see KQ save on the aircraft ownership costs, with the expectations being a shift from fixed payment for using aircraft to pay per use.

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“We are also working on reduction of other costs such as distribution and ground handling costs by dealing with the inefficiencies in these areas,” he said.

Kilavuka added that the carrier is unlikely to cut its employees as it is currently not bloated.

“We have also looked at the productivity of our employees in terms of how we can be more productive. This is unlikely to result in staff reduction. We did a voluntary exit exercise in 2020 and did not renew some of the contracts from the contracted staff and so as it stands, we do not have a bloated staff.”

Kilavuka further said that KQ is also optimizing its fleet and network of routes, which might reduce the routes it flies as well as the number of aircraft it operates.

He pointed out that the bookings for 2022 remained up, defying the trend during election years when tourism and travel experience major slumps.

KQ Chairman Michael Joseph added that the airline is hoping to quit reliance on bailouts from the government.

He said that the national carrier had made a commitment to the National Treasury that it will be financially sound within the next two years and no longer depend on the government.

“We also recognize that due to legacy issues, we have been a drain on the exchequer. We expect to move out of that situation and become profitable and self-financing … we believe that we will no longer be dependent on Treasury and therefore on taxpayers to keep us going,” said Joseph.