Kenya Airways, the country’s national airline, has for the first time in 7 years opened a new tab and swung to an operating profit of 10.53 billion shillings ($80.38 million) in 2023 after a loss the previous year. The airline has officially released the results.
It was the airline’s first operating profit since 2017, it said, buoyed by a 53 percent increase in revenue to 178.5 billion shillings. The revenue growth was underpinned by a 35 percent increase in passenger numbers, Kenya Airways said.
The airline posted a pretax loss, however, as a steep weakening of the Kenyan shilling led to loan revaluation losses but Kenya Airways says things are soon coming back to normal following a steep strengthening of the Kenyan shilling.
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“Kenya Airways will continue to build on the gains made in its turnaround strategy through capital restructuring to ensure the company can operate at optimal levels…
Heartfelt gratitude to our loyal customers, employees, Board of Directors, The Government of Kenya, our shareholders, and partners for their continued support in driving KQ’s mission of Propelling Africa’s prosperity by connecting its people, cultures, and markets,” said Kenya Airways’ CEO Allan Kilavuka.
At the same time, Kenya Airways has cut its losses by 41 percent majorly attributed to losses that came about due to the depreciating of the shilling against major currencies.
The latest result is a drop from the 38.3 billion shillings reported in 2022 which the airline attributes to continuing efforts aimed at bringing the KQ on the recovery path.
The Airline’s Total Income also posted a 53 percent rise from Sh116.8 billion in the last financial year to Sh178.5 billion in 2023.
“Kenya Airways PLC has achieved a significant milestone! For the first time in seven (7) years, KQ has recorded an operating profit of Kshs 10.5 billion for the year ending 31 December 2023… The group’s total revenue increased to Kshs178 billion, a 53% increment mainly attributable to a mixed impact of higher passenger numbers and increased deployed capacity,” said Michael Joseph, the Chairman of Kenya Airways.