Kenya Airways Records Profit for the First Time in Six Years

By Samuel Ouma

Kenya Airways (KQ) has recorded a profit of 120%  from a loss of Ksh5 billion ($34 million) reported in 2022 to Ksh998 million ($6.9 million) in 2023.

The airline's revenue increased to Ksh75 billion ($516 million) in the 2023 Half Year results, a 56% rise over the same time previous year.

The operating gain was driven by a 76.1% rise in cabin factor and a 43% increase in passenger numbers to 2.3 million.

In a statement, the airline said it focused on improving the customer experience, operational excellence, and cash conservation during the period.

The airline also exploited opportunities to raise much-needed revenue through passenger charters and ramped up scheduled operations.

Other initiatives undertaken by the management include partnerships with other airlines, lease rental renegotiations and other cost-reduction measures.

Kenya Airways Chairman Michael Joseph stated that the numbers show the airline is on the right course to recovery.

"These exceptional figures underscore the airline's outstanding performance during the period and offer encouraging indications of ongoing recovery and turnaround initiatives that have been put in place by management to return the airline to profitability are bearing fruit,” said Michael Joseph.

Allan Kilavuka, Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and CEO, said, "These results confirm the operational viability of the airline. We have enhanced our customer experience at different touchpoints, the reliability and availability of our aircraft have significantly improved, and Our On-Time Performance (OTP) has gone up from a low 58% at the start of the year to 77% at the end of June with a target of being above 80%."

Allan Kilavuka claims that the airline is still being held back by legacy debt and the depreciation of the Kenyan shilling compared to other major currencies.

“The debt is worsened by the 14% devaluation of the Kenyan shilling against the dollar since January, which we have had to book as foreign exchange losses. The devaluation of the Kenya shilling has a significant negative impact on our financials as a majority of our transactions are carried out in the major foreign currencies. This has, in turn, an impact on our overhead costs, which have increased by 22%,” added CEO Kilavuka.