Kenya Airways’ ongoing recovery and turnaround initiatives have resulted in the airline recording an operating profit of Ksh10.5bn (US$79m) for the year ended 31 December 2023. This represents a 287% growth compared to the previous year, which saw an operating loss of Ksh5.6bn.
The group’s total revenue rose by 53% to Ksh178bn, which was mainly attributable to a 43% growth in passenger numbers year on year and to only 2% below pre-pandemic levels. KQ also reported a 37% increment in total operating costs – despite a 44% increase in capacity deployed – because of increased operations as it continued to bounce back from the pandemic.
Direct operating costs increased by 48% in line with the increase in capacity, while fleet costs fell by 47.5% due to fleet rationalisation. Overheads increased by 22% due to an increase in employee costs as well as foreign currency losses caused by the devaluation of the Kenya shilling against major world currencies. Losses after tax reduced by 41% to Ksh22.7bn.