Local flights increase KQ passengers

 

In the first quarter of the financial year, 222,516 passengers were ferried within Kenya, a growth rate of 22.1 per cent over a similar period last year. Photo/File 

By MUTHOKI MUMO

 

In Summary

• In total, Kenya Airways moved 932,912 passengers globally, a growth of 10.9 per cent.

Domestic flights boosted Kenya Airways’ performance after recording the highest passenger number growth among the airline’s markets in the three months to June 2013.

In the first quarter of the financial year, 222,516 passengers were ferried within Kenya, a growth rate of 22.1 per cent over a similar period last year.

In total, Kenya Airways moved 932,912 passengers globally, a growth of 10.9 per cent.

Egypt crisis

Europe continued to weigh down on the carrier’s performance recording 90,517 passengers, a marginal 0.7 per cent growth over the numbers reported last year.

The Airline was forced to scale back operations to Egypt due to the on-going political crisis.

“The total capacity offered into the Northern African region remained flat compared to the 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,” wrote the airline in a statement.

In the year to March 2012, KQ reported a Sh7.8 billion loss attributed to the Eurozone crisis and the issuance of travel advisories by key markets. Consequently, the company’s share price has deteriorated amid concerns that recovery may be slow.

As part of the strategy to dig itself out of this hole, KQ is focusing on African and Asian routes.

During the quarter, the airline increased its capacity by three per cent through the introduction of new routes and increased frequencies in the African and Asian markets.

The airline is now flying to three destinations in Zambia and has introduced daily flights to Guangzhou, China. It grew its capacity the most in East Africa .

However, KQ’s bid to connect Africa to the rest of the world is facing some challenges. In West Africa, the airline has suspended several routes including the Bangui in the Central African Republic, Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, N’Djamena in Chad and Libreville in Gabon “due to constrained demand”.

In Northern Africa, KQ has reduced capacity by 5.4 per cent due to restructuring of operations on the Djibouti via Addis Ababa route and the Khartoum-Cairo route.