Kenya Airways reported a pre-tax loss of 17.93 billion Kenyan shillings ($138.3 million) for the full year ending December 31, 2025, reversing the landmark profit it posted just twelve months earlier after more than a decade in the red.
The airline announced the results on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, attributing the sharp reversal primarily to the temporary grounding of three of its wide-body Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft caused by global engine supply chain shortages. That grounding cut the carrier’s available seat kilometres (ASKs), a standard industry measure of capacity, by 18 percent to 13,349 million, directly suppressing both passenger numbers and revenue.
Total revenue fell 14 percent to 161.47 billion shillings from 188.50 billion shillings in 2024. Passenger numbers declined by 13 percent to approximately 4.6 million, while cargo volumes dropped 8 percent. Operating costs came down by 3 percent, reflecting the scaled-back flight activity, but the savings were insufficient to offset the revenue hit. The airline recorded an operating loss of 5.6 billion shillings and a loss after tax of 17.2 billion shillings.
Kenya Airways Chairman Kiprono Kittony framed the results as a disruption-driven outcome rather than a demand problem. “While our financial performance reflects a challenging year, it is important to recognise that this was driven primarily by global supply chain disruptions and not a lack of demand,” he said. He added that travel appetite across the airline’s network remained strong.
Acting Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer George Kamal said the carrier expects to recover two of the three grounded Dreamliners by mid-June ahead of the peak travel season, with engines expected to arrive in April and May. The third aircraft is undergoing a scheduled heavy maintenance check after reaching 12 years of service.
Kamal also pointed to cargo as the airline’s clearest near-term growth engine. Kenya Airways has grown its daily cargo capacity from 70 tonnes to 180 tonnes over a relatively short period and now handles an estimated 28 percent of Kenya’s air freight market. Two Boeing 777 freighters, each capable of carrying 100 tonnes, are expected to join the fleet by November 2026, with the airline targeting more than 40 percent of the Kenyan market and 15 percent of the broader African market.
On the engineering side, the airline completed its first in-house heavy maintenance check on a Boeing 787 and has regained unrestricted European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 145 certification, including approval to service Boeing 777 aircraft for other carriers. Kamal described the airline’s current phase as one of reinvention rather than mere recovery. “Our focus is not just recovery, but reinvention by building a stronger, resilient and more agile Kenya Airways,” he said.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects global passenger traffic to grow 4.9 percent in the current year, with cargo expected to rise 3.1 percent.
