Kenya’s national carrier Kenya Airways has recorded a huge loss of Ksh14.3 billion in the first half of 2020.
This is almost double the loss made under a similar period in 2019 where it recorded Ksh8.5 billion loss.
The 67 percent loss for the first half of 2020 was released in unaudited books sent to the Nairobi Securities Exchange according to Business Daily.
The further dip was as a result of grounding operations for months due to coronavirus pandemic.
The number of passengers also reduced to 1.1 million from 2.4 million in the last six months. This was a 55.5 percent drop in passenger traffic compared to the same period under review in 2019.
“The reduction is due to the cessation of scheduled operations from the second quarter of 2020,” KQ said.
KQ Board chairman Michael Joseph noted that “The network activity from April to June was minimal due to travel restrictions and lock downs effectively reducing operations to almost nil in connecting our home market to key cities.”
KQ’s revenues have dipped to Ksh30.2 billion for the period under review in 2020. Under the same period in 2019, the airline posted revenues of Ksh58.5 billion.
The carrier’s operating costs went down from Ksh61.4 billion last year to Ksh38.6 billion, resulting in an operating loss of Ksh8.4 billion. KQ incurred other costs of Ksh5.9 billion. Its current liabilities stood at Ksh59 billion.
However, the loss made in the six months to June 30, 2020, could increase to Ksh21 billion if the carrier includes a Ksh3.2 billion loss on hedged exchange differences on borrowings and a Ksh3.4 billion loss on lease liabilities to the loss statement.
The pandemic has dealt a huge blow on KQ whose loss for the financial year 2019 stood at Ksh12.9 billion.
With the pandemic striking hard the first few months of the year, it recorded more losses in just six months than what was recorded for the financial year that ended December 2019.
