File Photo of a Kenya Airways plane mid-flight. The substantive loss cut is greatly attributable to yields from cost cutting initiatives taken across the six months which helped to partially offset a deceleration in revenues.
KQ’s total operating costs for instance came down by 10.4 per cent to Ksh.34.6 billion from Ksh.38.6 billion.
The airline saved Ksh.784 million in fuel costs from reduced capacity deployment despite not hedging against rising crude oil prices in the period.
National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has trimmed its half year loss to June by 19.6 per cent to Ksh.11.5 billion from a wider loss of Ksh.14.4 billion last year.
The substantive loss cut is greatly attributable to yields from cost cutting initiatives taken across the six months which helped to partially offset a deceleration in revenues.
KQ’s total operating costs for instance came down by 10.4 per cent to Ksh.34.6 billion from Ksh.38.6 billion.
The airline saved Ksh.784 million in fuel costs from reduced capacity deployment despite not hedging against rising crude oil prices in the period.
Meanwhile, negotiations on fleet ownership saw the carrier save Ksh.1.5 billion while net financing costs fell by Ksh.1.6 billion.
At the same time, Kenya Airways saved Ksh.155 million from its workforce reduction and payroll cuts which were implemented earlier in 2020.
On the turnover front, revenues for the ailing carrier were down nine per cent at Ksh.27.4 billion with passenger revenues alone falling by Ksh.3.5 billion.
Nevertheless, KQ freight revenues improved by Ksh.2.7 billion from cargo centered initiatives including the conversion of two Boeing 787 craft into fully fledged freight operators, adding over 500 tons of cargo capacity monthly.According to Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka, the management of the airline has taken deliberate efforts to cut costs as the carrier continues to fly through turbulence.“The activation in terms of driving costs down is much more than our reduction in revenues even within the constraints. As management, we have been working extremely hard to keep costs down and conserve cash,” he stated. Still in the red However, despite the slight pickup in performance, KQ remains firmly in the red, a factor complicated massively by the stay of the pandemic.“Our operations continued to be severely impacted by COVID. We are operating at about 30 per cent of our original 2019 capacity meaning we are still in a crisis,” said Kenya Airways Chairman Michael Joseph.“The difficulties are compounded by a slow vaccination uptake, travel […]