KQ losses widen to Sh16.1b on rising fuel costs
Business
By
Macharia Kamau
| Aug 26, 2026
Kenya Airways planes at the parking bay at JKIA in Nairobi. [File, Standard]
National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has sunk deeper into losses, reporting a net loss of Sh16.1 billion for the half-year to June 2,026 compared to a Sh12.2 billion loss that it reported over the first half of 2025.
The airline yesterday attributed the loss to high fuel prices, which worsened the earlier challenges of a global shortage of aircraft engines and spare parts that the carrier had been experiencing, which had seen it ground some of its aircraft.
Going deeper into losses, despite a nine per cent increase in revenues to Sh81.25 billion over the half from Sh74.5 billion over a similar period in 2025.
Its operating costs, however, also shot up to Sh97.18 billion from Sh86.58 billion last year. The carrier said a significant rise in fuel costs resulted in the sharp increase in operating costs. Fuel costs went up by 66 per cent to Sh29 billion.
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“Fuel remains one of the largest cost components and the increase in fuel costs places considerable pressure on the operations of the airline,” said KQ Chairman Kiprono Kittony during a virtual press briefing.
In addition to the high cost of fuel, the carrier said it also had to grapple with long routes due to airspace closures in the Middle East because of the war in Iran.
The carrier has also been grappling with constrained capacity due to the grounding of a number of its aircraft following the unavailability of spare parts and engines globally. This has resulted in capacity constraints that have seen the carrier reduce frequencies on many lucrative routes.
Acting Chief Executive George Kamal said the revenue growth demonstrated demand for air travel, but the challenges of fuel and grounded planes have seen the carrier unable to tap into this demand.
“Demand for Kenya Airways remains. Our biggest challenge has been availability of aircraft to meet this demand,” he said.
The 2026 half-year loss was the second consecutive year, after the airline appeared to be turning the corner in 2024, when it posted a Sh513 million half-year profit and later a Sh5.4 billion full-year profit, the first in more than a decade.
The rare profit had been preceded by KQ’s worst half-year loss in 2023 at Sh21.7 billion, which it attributed to a combination of high fuel costs and the weakening of the shilling, which resulted in higher operating and financing costs for the airline that buys many of its supplies and pays loans in foreign currency.
KQ expects to start receiving some engines in September this year and have the entire fleet back in operation by early 2027, which it said would enable it to tap into strong demand in travel across different routes that it currently operates.
The airline is also set to launch a fresh bid for a strategic investor in the coming weeks.
“We have approved an investment memorandum prepared by KPMG for capital raising and seeking a strategic investor,” said Kittony.