Kenya: Kenya Airways faces Sh12.98 billion loss for year-end

National carrier Kenya Airways has faced further losses, posting a net loss of Sh12.98 billion for the year ended December 2019, compared to an Sh7.558 billion loss posted a year earlier, according to a news report by Capital FM.

The company has largely attributed the poor performance to the adoption of IFRS 16, a new lease accounting standard that was effected in January last year on a modified retrospective basis.

The Group also put the blame on the increase in operating costs - the costs rose by 12.4 percent, driven by the rise in capacity deployed as well as an increase in fleet ownership costs attributed to the return of two Boeing 787 aircraft that had been subleased to Oman Air.

During the period under review, the airline's total revenue however rose, increasing by 12.4 percent from Sh114.1 billion in 2018 to Sh128.3 billion in 2019.

The Airline's Board Chair, Michael Joseph has said that growth was due to improved passenger, cargo, ancillaries, and other revenue streams, mainly due to the expansion of the Kenya Airways network.

The year also saw the airline invest in new routes to the network; Geneva, Rome, and Malindi. According to Joseph, the expansion resulted in a 6.7 percent increase in passenger numbers to hit a record 5.1 million passengers.