Kenya Airways reports a Sh29.7 billion loss

National Carrier Kenya Airways has reported a pre-tax full year loss of Ksh 29.7 billion for the year ended March 31st, 2015.

KQ further posted a Ksh 25.7 billion full year loss after tax, this being the biggest loss to be posted by a listed company in Kenya.

The airline Managing Director Mbuvi Ngunze has attributed the loss to the slowdown in the tourism industry and the high costs of fuel.

The Airline made a loss of 4.8 billion shillings last year.

The airline has also attributed the loss to low ticket sales leading to cancellation of flights, flat revenue growth and increased overheads.

This has in turn cost the carrier more as they put up customers whose flights have been cancelled in hotels.

In March this year, Kenya Airways was set to retire 10 of its pilots as part of its fleet modernization.

Kenya Airways Corporate Communications Manager Wanjiku Mugo said the airline has issued retirement letters to the 10 pilots in accordance with the airline’s collective bargaining agreement with the Kenya Airline Pilots Association.

The announcement came months after the airline announced that it had sold its fleet of four Boeing triple seven dash 200 aircraft at a loss of 5 point 4 billion shillings owing to the depreciation in the value of the aircraft.

During the first six months of its financial year, Kenya Airways announced that it had made a net loss of 10 point 4 billion shillings that it blamed on slowed revenue growth and increased fleet operation costs.