Kenya Airways releases its operating results for the first quarter ended 30th June 2013.

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 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. 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 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%.

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%.

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.

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.

For media related enquiries, contact Lesley Simpson Communications on Tel: +27 11 463 8195, Fax: +27 11 463 8196 or Email: lesley@lscpr.co.za

About Kenya Airways:

Kenya Airways, a member of the Sky Team Alliance, is a leading African airline flying to over 60 destinations worldwide, 40 of which are in Africa and carries over three million passengers annually. It continues to modernize its fleet with its 42 aircraft fleet being one of the most modern in Africa. The on-board service is renowned and the lie-flat business class seat on the wide-body aircraft is consistently voted among the world’s top 10. In 2010, it scooped top awards at the Africa Investor (Ai) Tourism Investor Awards and was declared the Business Airline of the Year in Africa. Kenya Airways takes pride for being in the fore front of connecting Africa to the world and the World to Africa through its hub Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.