Kenya Airways carried just over 1 million passengers in its second quarter, matching its performance last year, as lower traffic on European routes was offset by growth in Asian routes, it said on Thursday.
The airline, which is 26.73 percent owned by Air France-KLM and 29.8 percent by the Kenyan government, expects to carry 4 million passengers in its financial year to March 2013, up from 3.7 million over the previous 12 months.
Passenger numbers to Amsterdam, London and Paris fell 15 percent year-on-year to 134,214 as Europe's economic woes hurt demand and the airline cut capacity, the company said.
However, traffic to the Middle East and Asia jumped 16.5 percent to 155,940 passengers as new destinations such as New Delhi and Jeddah were added.
On African routes, just over half a million passengers were carried during the period, down 0.5 percent year-on-year despite an increase in capacity. Traffic on domestic routes edged down by 0.4 percent, the airline said.
The airline is ranked among the largest carriers in sub-Saharan Africa, alongside South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.
