Written by Eric Ombok | From Bloomberg

Kenya Airways Ltd., Africa’s third-largest carrier, swung to a loss in the first half, hurt by rising costs and the impact of domestic insecurity and an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which forced route cancellations.

The airline posted a 10.5 billion-shilling ($116.5 million) loss in the six months through September compared with a profit of 384 million shillings a year earlier, Chief Financial Officer Alex Mbugua told investors today in the capital, Nairobi. Direct costs climbed to 42.2 billion shillings from 37.3 billion shillings, or 13 percent, while sales rose 5 percent to 56.8 billion shillings, Mbugua said.

Mbuvi Ngunze, who took over as chief executive officer from this month, has said the carrier may face a 3 percent to 4 percent drop in revenue in the current year through March if flights remain suspended to nations heavily hit in the Ebola outbreak. The ban, which forced Kenya Airways to stop flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone from mid-August, is under review by the government, according to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The airline also has been impacted by travelers’ concerns over insecurity after a deadly raid by Islamist militants on a Nairobi shopping mall last year and gun and grenade attacks in coastal Lamu, said Ngunze at the same briefing.

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