Kenya Airways full-year loss widened as the airline part-owned by Air France-KLM said increased foreign exchange and borrowing costs marred efforts to turn around sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest carrier.

The after-tax loss increased to 26.2 billion shillings ($258 million) in the 12 months through March from 25.7 billion shillings a year earlier, the Nairobi-based company said in a statement on Thursday.

Finance costs rose almost 50 percent to 7 billion shillings, while other costs jumped more than eight times to 10.8 billion shillings.

“We have been through a very tough year,” Chief Executive Officer Mbuvi Ngunze told reporters in Nairobi. “We are still growing even in difficult times. We are still operating, and confidently so, even with results that are losses.”

Kenya Airways plans to cut 600 jobs after shrinking its fleet by almost a third to help reverse losses, and has eliminated 80 positions to date.

Bloomberg

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