Kenya Airways (KQ) has slid back into loss-making, reporting a net loss of Sh12.15 billion for the half year to June 30 this year, from a profit of Sh513 million reported last year. The carrier attributed the loss to aircraft unavailability, with some of its key planes grounded.
Three of the airline's Boeing 787-88 Dreamliners were not in operation during the half under review, which it said was due to global supply chain disruptions and engine availability constraints.
The airline had last year emerged from years of loss-making when it posted a half-year profit of Sh513 million and went on to post a full-year net profit of Sh5.4 billion, the first time in more than a decade. "The first half of 2025 was defined by industry-wide challenges that directly impacted our performance, particularly the grounding of three of our aircraft," said Chief ExecutiveAllan Kilavuka, terming the poor performance as a temporary setback. "Aviation is cyclical, and these headwinds that we are facing are temporary and do not reflect on the fundamentals of the business.
Demand for African travel is rising, and KQ is in the middle of it … the focus is that by 2026 we will have the full fleet available." He explained that the carrier operates nine Dreamliners, and grounding three of them represented 33 per cent of the airline's wide-body fleet.
