Kenya Airways has announced Sh. 9.9 billion loss in the first six months of its current financial year.
This loss was a reduction from the Sh. 11.5 billion loss it posted in the same period the previous year.
The national carrier blamed the loss on high cost of fuel which saw it spend up to Sh 11 billion on the commodity.
This fuel expense saw the national carrier’s operational costs rise to a five year high of Sh. 57 billion compared to Sh. 56 billion in 2017. In the same period last year, costs stood at Sh. 38.9 per cent, meaning they have gone up by 49.1 per cent in the current year.
Turnover went up by 76 per cent in the period to Sh.48.1 billion from Sh. 27.4 billion.
“The first six months of the year have been very good for KQ as we see an increase in revenues even as we are impacted by costs including high fuel prices and weaker foreign exchange rates,” said Kenya Airways Chairman Michael Joseph.
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During the period under review, KQ uplifted a total of 1.61 million passengers during the period, an 85 per cent improvement compared to the prior year’s 0.87 million passengers.
“The 76 per cent increase in revenue is commendable and very exciting for us. This shows that our teams have been working hard to support our recovery,” said Kenya Airways CEO Allan Kilavuka.
