Kenya Airways chairman Michael Joseph has a word with the Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on July 15, 2020, when KQ resumed domestic flights following Covid-19 disruptions. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG Kenya Airways posted $132 million loss on account of Covid-19 disruptions that led to grounding of flights.
The half-year loss is more than the annual losses that KQ has been posting for the last three years.
KQ chairman Michael Joseph has offered a bleak outlook on the remainder of the year despite domestic and international flights having resumed.
Kenya Airways (KQ) net loss for the six months ended June 2020 has widened by 67.3 percent to Ksh14.33 billion ($132 million) on account of Covid-19 disruptions that led to the grounding of flights.
The national carrier said Friday morning that the passenger numbers dropped by 55.5 percent to 1.1 million in contrast with 2.4 million over the same period last year, hurting revenues.
“Operations were severely impacted by the Covid-19 crisis resulting in depressed half-year results,” said KQ chairman Michael Joseph.
“The network activity from April to June was minimal due to travel restrictions and lockdowns effectively reducing operations to almost nil in connecting our home market to key cities.”
The half-year loss is more than the annual losses that KQ has been posting for the last three years.
KQ posted a net loss of Ksh12.99 billion ($120m) last year, up from Ksh7.55 billion ($70m) in 2018. The 2017 net loss was Ksh10.21 billion ($94m) from a record net loss of Ksh26.2 billion ($242m) in 2016.
Mr Joseph has offered a bleak outlook on the remainder of the year despite domestic and international flights having resumed.
“The 2020 results will be significantly negatively impacted because of the projected suppressed air travel demand. We project the demand to remain at less than 50 percent of 2019 for the rest of the year,” said Mr Joseph.During the review period, total revenue dipped by 48 percent to Ksh30.21 billion ($279m) in line with the fall in passenger numbers. Cash preservation Kenya reported its first Covid-19 case on March 13, prompting the state to halt both domestic and international flights for the entire reporting period.The halting of flights saw passenger revenue retreat by 53 percent to Ksh20.23 billion ($187m) as many passengers cancelled flights.The government’s move restricted KQ’s revenue streams to the few charter flights it operated alongside the […]
