Kenya Airways receives $350m state loan and debt restructuring

Kenya Airways will get a KShs45.15 billion ($350 million) shareholder loan from the Kenyan government, the carrier said in a stock market announcement. The state also agreed to restructure KShs122 billion of loans the airline already owes it.

Kenya Airways said the new facility is meant to cover pressing operational needs. It listed scheduled upkeep of its fleet, returning parked aircraft to service, and other obligations it called urgent and unable to be postponed. The money is also intended to keep operations running while the company works through its turnaround plan.

The government can convert the proposed loan into equity later as part of a future capital restructuring. The loan is repayable over ten years.

Separately, the state approved converting roughly KShs122 billion of existing shareholder loans, plus accrued interest, into an equity-qualifying instrument that can be traded. Kenya Airways said this is meant to lift the company out of negative equity, improve its balance sheet and strengthen its credit standing, and that it would support long-term plans to raise capital.

Kenya Airways has been looking for a strategic investor as part of efforts to repair its finances. The airline posted its first profit in ten years in 2024, helped by currency gains, then returned to a loss in 2025. It attributed part of that setback to aircraft being unavailable because of engine and supply chain problems.

The carrier is a member of the SkyTeam alliance.