NAIROBI: Kenya Airways, which has disclosed a pre-tax loss of 29.7 billion shillings ($285 million) in the 2014-2015 financial years, may require a $500-600 million bailout, a top government official said on Tuesday.Henry Rotich,
Kenyan finance minister, said on Tuesday that the final figures and the form of recapitalisation would depend on a turnaround plan being prepared by Mckinsey and Seabury consultants, who were hired by the airline part-owned by AirFrance-KLM.
Announcing the financial results in Nairobi, Kenya Airways CEO, Mbuvi Ngunze blamed the loss on a drop in numbers of tourism flights- following a number of Islamist attacks in the country. “We have had turbulent times and this loss is obviously significant,he told a press conference in Nairobi on Monday.
He said the company experienced a growth in the fleet which was not matched by revenue growth and the terrorism threat posed by al-Shabaab made tourists shun the country.