Kenya Airways releases results for the past 6 months
Nairobi, 28 th August 2020 – Kenya Airways (KQ) has released its financial results for the six-month period ending July 2020 at a virtual investor briefing held this morning. During this period, the airline’s total revenue reduced by 48% to Kshs. 30,214 million as a result of the cessation of scheduled operations from the second quarter of 2020.
The airline recorded a 55.5% reduction in passenger numbers at 1.1 million passengers compared to 2.4 million passengers over the same period last year, with passenger revenue declining by 53% to Kshs. 20,230 million. Capacity deployed in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) also declined by 53.5%. During the period, the airline recorded a loss before tax of Kshs. 14,355 million a 68% drop from the prior year at Kshs. 8,562 million.
This announcement follows the positive performance of the airline for the year ending December 31 st , 2019, which saw a 12.4% increase in revenue from KSHS.114,185 million in 2018 to KSHS. 128,317 million, the airline’s best performance yet.
The first six months of 2020 have been extremely challenging for the airline because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely impacted the aviation industry. According to IATA, GDP supported by aviation in Africa could fall by up to $35 billion, $7 billion more than the industry body had previously predicted.
“It has been a tough year where we have faced unprecedented challenges. The situation continues to be difficult even as we gradually resume our operations, mainly due to the depressed demand for air travel, with recovery to 2019 levels expected to take between three to four years. The scale of this challenge requires substantial change so we are in a competitive and resilient position to address the impact of COVID-19, withstand any longer-term reductions in customer demand and any economic shocks or events that could affect the airline,” said Allan Kilavuka, Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
The short and medium-term projections indicate that the airline must inevitably reduce its operations before it begins to scale up again. As a result, KQ is currently undertaking an organisation-wide rightsizing exercise across its network, fleet as well as staff in order to reduce the company’s overall total fixed costs. The exercise is set to be completed by 30 th September 2020.
“The reality is that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our operations have reduced significantly, and […]