* YOU BEEN SNAP * KENYA AIRWAYS WILL SOON LAUNCH A NAIROBI -KILIMANJARO ROUTE"

Nairobi. The Kenyan national carrier, Kenya Airways will soon launch a Nairobi-Kilimanjaro route in its bid to expand network frequencies inside and outside Africa in the next financial year.This was revealed by the Kenya Airways chief executive officer and group managing director Titus Naikuni during the investor briefing function held in Nairobi last Thursday.

The Kilimanjaro route is among eight new destinations Kenya Airways (KQ) is expecting to start in the 2011/12 financial year which include Abuja (Nigeria), Beirut (Lebanon), Port Louis (Mauritius), Asmara (Eritrea), Jedda (Saudi Arabia) and N’djamena in Chad.

Dr Naikuni said the new routes would increase the number of passengers and accelerate KQ performance in the next year.“We are very confident that the eight new routes will take off in 2011/12 financial year as the preparations are in the final stages for some routes,” said Dr Naikuni.Currently, Kenya Airways has 32 aircraft which operate in 53 destinations.

Dr Naikuni also told the investors that the company had registered a 73 per cent increase in its profit after tax from Ksh2.0 billion last year to Ksh3.5 billion as of March this year even as the fuel cost had risen sharply.
With such profit, the directors had recommended Ksh693 million for a dividend of Ksh1.50 per share for approval by the shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting in October.The CEO attributed the stronger performance to sustained focus on growing route network and increased number of flights to existing destinations.

With such initiatives, the number of passengers had increased from 2.8 million in 2010 to 3.1 million in March 2011 pushing the cabin factor (how full the aircraft is) to 69.2 per cent compared to 66.5 per cent last year.
“If things will go as they are, the economic growth remains strong this year,” predicted Dr Naikuni.The group finance director Mr Alex Mbugua described the fuel crisis as “killer during the year” as the fuel cost jumped from Ksh18.8 billion in 2010 to 24.7 billion this year.

*MKILETEWA HAPA NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*