The national carrier of Kenya, Kenya Airways, has blatantly been unable to recover from the Covid-19 shockwave.
The country’s local stock exchange relayed recently that the national carrier’s shares have been suspended for another year as a result of the airline’s inability to break even.
Since, and even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the airline has struggled tremendously with making profit. This has caused the suspension of the airline’s shares since 2020.
“The extension of suspension seeks to enable the company [to] complete its operational and corporate restructure process,” the Nairobi Securities Exchange disclosed via an official statement.
The airline has become such a thorn on the side of its stakeholders that they have become willing to sell their shares in the company.
Last year, the president of Kenya, William Ruto divulged his intentions to sell the government’s entire 48.9% stake in the airline.
The Kenyan government naturally owns the highest shares in the company at 48.9%, followed by Air France-KLM which owns 7.8% stake in Kenya Airline. The remaining 43.3% shares are scattered amongst a number of private owners and banks.
The government’s decision to dump this investment is largely due to the fact that even before the pandemic, the airline struggled financially. Despite infusing millions of dollars into the airline, it has failed to turn a profit since as far back as 2012.
“I’m willing to sell the whole of Kenya Airways,” William Ruto had said. “I’m not in the business of running an airline that just has a Kenyan flag – that’s not my business,” the president added.
Asides from being an unprofitable enterprise, Kenya airways also seems to have some operational misfortunes. Last year in November, pilots working for this carrier staged a day-long strike, which led to hundreds of flight being cancelled, and thousands of passengers stranded.
The airline was also reported to have defaulted on a $525 million loan from the US Export-Import Bank last year.
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