Kenya Airways, the country’s public-private partnership national flag carrier, expected to achieve a turn-around next year. This was reaffirmed at the airline’s 2023 virtual annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday. The carrier presented its audited financial results and business performance for the year ending December 31, 2022, at the AGM.

Although there were still lingering effects on the world’s airlines from the Covid-19 pandemic, global air passenger traffic was recovering. The industry as a whole was forecast to enjoy a strong recovery.

“Kenya Airways remained resilient by taking advantage of the upsurge in travel demand through frequency increment and improved service offering,” reported Kenya Airways Group CEO and MD Allan Kilavuka. “Despite some headwinds with fuel cost increasing year-on-year by 160%, and the dollar deterioration that impacted our direct operating costs, we are confident that [with] the restructuring initiatives introduced in 2022, the airline is poised for success and will attain its aspiration to turn around by 2024. We are committed to building a robust, sustainable and successful business and we will achieve this with the support we are getting from our customers, employees, our principal shareholder the government of Kenya and other stakeholders.”

“Our turnaround progress in 2022 remained on course,” highlighted Group chairperson Michael Joseph. “Our restructuring and transformation efforts led to a 66% revenue increase to stand at [Kenya Shillings] 117-billion [nearly $833-million]. The growth in revenue was driven by a significant increase in passenger numbers which grew by 68% to 3.7-million passengers, and over 65 000 t, a 3.5% increase, in cargo tonnage.”

The airline had benefitted from its de-risking strategy.   

At the AGM, Kenya Airways also launched its first-ever sustainability report, which was focused on its sustainability commitments and performance last year. The carrier also affirmed that its sustainability business model would have three pillars – economic, environmental and social.