NAIROBI (Xinhua) — National carrier, Kenya Airways on Friday issued a profit warning for its financial year results, saying its earnings for the 2011/12 year will decline by at least 25 percent compared to the previous year.
The airline which is one of the most successful airlines in Africa after South Africa Airways and Ethiopian Airlines attributed the reduction of its earnings to a very challenging economic and geopolitical environment in the aviation industry, escalating fuel prices and Eurozone crisis.
“Despite these challenges that are affecting the entire aviation industry, the board of directors expects that Kenya Airways will remain profitable,” the airline said in a statement released to the Nairobi Security Exchange.
Kenya Airways chairman Evanson Mwaniki also blamed political unrest in Egypt early last year which was led to the removal of Hosni Mubarak from power and chaos in Nigeria as some of the incidents that resulted into reduced revenue.
“These factors are negatively impacting the second half of Kenya Airways operating results for the financial year 2011/12.
“It is predicted that earnings for the year will be at least 25 percent less than the level of earnings in the previous year,” Mwaniki said.
He said the airline’s strategy to grow its network in Asia and Africa as well as renewal of its fleet will continue to improve efficiencies and its future outlook.
He said despite the challenges the airline faced in the first half of the financial year, Kenya Airways performed well and achieved 33 million U.S. dollars pretax profit for the half year ended Sept. 30, 2011.
