Kenya Airways announces first quarter operating results

The capacity into Middle East and Far East regions grew by 12.8% driven by the introduction of daily operations to Guangzhou via Bangkok coupled with increased deployment of larger B777 equipment to Bombay.  The recommencement of flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and direct flights from Dubai to Hong Kong added to the capacity. 

Abraham Joseph, area manager, South Asia, Middle East, and North Africa for Kenya Airways, said: “The first quarter results this year specifically for this region is heartening. We look forward to an equally, if not better, performance in the second quarter as summer travelers take off from the region on holiday to other parts of the world.” 

Capacity put into Europe was at par with same quarter of prior year despite the withdrawal from Rome, because of additional two weekly frequencies to Paris. 

The company put into the market place a total capacity of 3,464m seat kilometres which gives a year on year growth of 3.0%.  During this quarter the airline successfully launched three weekly operations into Livingstone, the third destination in Zambia after Lusaka and Ndola. 

The total capacity offered into the Northern African region remained flat compared to prior year despite the introduction of a third daily frequency to Juba because of the inevitable cutbacks made to Cairo following the volatile political situation in Egypt.  The capacity offered in East Africa region grew by 12.9% occasioned by increased early morning departures to Entebbe and additional Dar-es-Salaam frequencies and daily night stops.     

Capacity in Southern Africa region grew by 10.4% largely because of the increased night time operations into Lusaka and Lilongwe as well as the introduction of Livingstone.  The 10.9% decline in capacity seen in the West and Central African regions was driven mainly by the suspension of Bangui, Ouagadougou, N’Djamena and Libreville destinations due to constrained demand.   

On the Domestic front, capacity grew by 11.6% compared to same quarter last year due to the re-launch of Eldoret in October 2012 and a further two daily flights into Kisumu including a night stop. 

Passenger traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres at 2,330m grew by 5.8% ahead of the same quarter last year.  The total passenger carrying at 932,912 was 10.9% more compared to similar period last year achieving a cabin factor of 67.3% against prior year’s level of 65.5%. 

In the Middle East and Far East regions, uplifted passenger traffic at 139,275 showed a 12.3% improvement over prior year. The realised cabin factor of 70.2% in this region was 2.1 percentage points better than last year. 

The passenger uplift to Europe at 90,517 shows some recovery compared to last year’s level with an achieved cabin factor of 68.5% being better than prior year’s 66.8%. 

Within Africa but excluding Kenya, passengers uplifted totalled 480,604 indicating a growth of 9.4% because of the factors already referred to above.  The resultant passenger cabin factor of 63.7% was however at par with similar period last year. 

Passengers uplifted within Kenya at 222,516 grew by 22.1% with an improved cabin factor of 76.8% an increase of 3.6 percentage points due to the resurgence of business traffic in the country.

Cargo capacity offered measured Cargo tonne kilometres on the passenger aircraft belly declined by 4.0% with an equivalent drop in actual cargo volumes uplifted in the quarter. However, the introduction of the regional freighter in April marked a major milestone in broadening the cargo network and will continue to drive the attractiveness of Nairobi as the region’s future airfreight hub.