Kenya Airways avoids loss thanks to hedging
18 / 10 / 2010
KENYA Airways narrowly avoided making another loss from its cargo business, thanks to hedging on fuel prices.
The airline carried 60,850 tons of cargo in the year, compared with 61,288 tons the year before.
Cargo revenue for the financial year 2009/10 dropped 11 per cent, from Ksh 6.1 billion (US$75 million) to Ksh 5.4 billion ($66.7 million). This would have pushed the entire airline into loss, but a Ksh 6 billion gain from fuel hedges just bumped the carrier into a pre-tax profit of $33.8 million.
Last year it made a Ksh 7.5 billion loss ($92 million loss).
Kenya Airways’ chief executive officer, Titus Naikuni, blamed the global financial crisis, the delay to the 787 Dreamliner from Boeing and a two-day workers’ strike.