Kenya Airways shareholders on Monday voted to approve a financial restructuring plan to bail the airways out of huge debt and return it to profitability, reports PM News.

Michael Joseph, Chairman of the board, made the plan known to the shareholders at a special meeting in Nairobi, saying the restructuring plan was to create new shares and convert debt into equity.

He said the plan was essential for the indebted airline to continue operating and return to profit. The shareholders voted overwhelmingly to back the plan.

In June, Kenya Airways received the Government of Kenya’s support to the restructuring efforts with the Cabinet approving the terms of the support, which was submitted to the National Assembly.

As part of its restructuring plan, Kenya Airways has had to sack members of its staff in addition to cutting down on expenditures, scaling down operations, subleasing/selling of aircraft and renegotiating contracts.

In May, the restructuring process began to pay off as the airline cut its losses by 51 percent in 2017 to hit Sh10.2 billion compared to the Sh26 billion it recorded in 2016.

Currently, Kenya Airways main shareholders are the Kenyan government (29%), Air France-KLM (26%), and the International Finance Corporation (9.7%).