Kenya Airways Post Worst Loss On Record Of $330 Million

Kenya Airways reported a historic loss of over $330 million for the fiscal year of 2020. Passenger numbers dropped by close to two-thirds, and the share loss jumped by as much.

Apart from the rare exception, air operator financial results coming in for the full fiscal year of 2020 are severely in the red. Many account for historical losses. Forty-four-year-old Kenya Airways announced today that its pretax losses for 2020 amounted to 36.57 billion shillings ($333.2 million) – close to triple the sum from the previous year.

The airline’s Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka said that passenger numbers dropped from 5.2 million in 2019 to 1.8 million during the year currently under review.

Kenya Airways’ Chairman, Michael Joseph, also confirmed that things are bound to remain dire for the near future.

“The COVID-19 global outbreak in 2020 was beyond anyone’s prediction, and its impact on the industry is expected to continue affecting air travel demand for the next two to three years,” Mr Joseph said.

The carrier’s basic loss per share went from 2.23 shillings ($0.020)in the previous year to 6.22 shillings ($0.057) in 2020.