Kenya Airways narrows first-half pretax loss by 20%

NAIROBI (Reuters) -Kenya Airways' first-half pretax loss narrowed by 20% to 11.5 billion shillings ($104.83 million), it said on Thursday, as higher cargo volumes and lower costs offset a drop in passenger numbers.

The airline, whose joint venture with Air France-KLM will end next month, carried a third more cargo in volume, CEO Allan Kilavuka told an investor briefing, helped by the conversion of two passenger jets into cargo planes.

Costs fell by 10% on fuel conservation and lower financing costs, the airline said. Revenue fell 9%.

Like other carriers, Kenya Airways has seen its passenger business severely constrained by travel restrictions imposed by governments to curb the spread of the virus.

"We are still in crisis," said Michael Joseph, the airline's chairman.

($1 = 109.7000 Kenyan shillings)

(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely)