KQ Reduces New York Flights to Two Due to Reduced Number of Passengers

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has reduced weekly flights to New York to two.

According to management, the third flight had to be cut due to the reduced number of passengers.

KQ has recorded a cabin factor of below 65 percent compared to over 75 percent between June and end of August.

“We are now in low season and demand for travel on the route has gone down. We have had to reduce the number of flights from three to two on the New York route starting this month,” KQ is quoted by Business Daily.

Read: KQ’s Accumulated Losses Hit 127 Billion As Carrier Seeks Bailout

Flights to the States will be on Tuesday and Saturday.

The airline resumed flights to the Big Apple in November 2020 after continued cancellation of flights.

In February 2021, flights were reduced to one weekly over fresh Covid-19 restrictions.

In June, however, the flights were increased to three as summer bookings picked up.

Read Also: Kenya Airways Implements Contactless Transactions at JKIA Starting Sept 1

Prior to the pandemic, the airline was operating five direct flights to New York.

Last week, the airline announced a six-month loss of Ksh11.5 billion translating into a Ksh127 billion accumulated loss.

The loss was 19.6 percent lower as compared to a wider loss of Ksh.14.4 billion last year.

KQ’s total operating costs were reduced by 10.4 percent to Ksh34.6 billion from Ksh38.6 billion, while Ksh784 million was saved in fuel costs from reduced capacity deployment.

Read Also: Kenya Airways Partners With UK-Based Skyports to Commercialize Drone Operations

KQ sought financial support from its principals including the government which makes for its majority shareholder.

“The financial situation of the company is precarious. We have a negative equity position which means we are insolvent. Definitely, the company is in need of financial support, this is not a secret as I have mentioned before,” said KQ CEO Allan Kilavuka.

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