NAIROBI, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Airways (KQ) narrowed its net loss to about 7.5 billion shillings (about 75 million U.S. dollars) on account of strong revenue growth boosted by high passenger numbers and cargo volumes, the airline said in its 2018 financial results released on Tuesday.
Rising from its historic net loss of 250 million dollars in 2015, Kenya Airways board of directors and management talked of a "ray of hope" for the airline, which was rapidly descending into irredeemable loss streak, before its miraculous path to recovery.
Michael Joseph, Kenya Airways chairman, told an investor briefing in Nairobi that the airline recorded a total revenue of 1.14 billion dollars in 2018, obtained from the growth in passenger numbers.
"Kenya Airways has continued to focus on delivering the turnaround program that we embarked on in 2016," he said.
Joseph said the airline implemented cost-cutting measures which enabled it to swim above extreme market pressure, high fuel costs, personnel and cost of fleet acquisition, to stay on course to profitability.
In 2015, the airline's finances deteriorated with cost of operations hitting some 412 million dollars in 2014.
It managed to cut the operating loss to about 119 million dollars after renegotiating its loan repayment schedules with local banks as part of its financial restructuring process.
The airline then formed a special purpose vehicle to support management of company assets and acquisition of aircraft.
Joseph said due to changes in accounting rules, the current financial statement was not directly comparable with the 2017 results because it represents 12 months against the nine months for 2017.
Its cabin-load factor, which reflects the number of passengers on every flight, stood at 77.6 percent compared to the previous year's 76 percent, according to the results.
