Kenya Airways is targeting at least $500 million in new capital to restore and expand its fleet by early next year, Reuters reported.

The airline reported a pretax loss of 12.17 billion shillings ($94.34 million) in the first half of 2025, reversing a 634 million shilling profit from the same period last year. The drop comes amid reduced passenger numbers and revenue, with three of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners grounded for maintenance.

Operating losses for the period stood at 6.2 billion shillings, down from a 1.3 billion shilling profit in the first half of 2024, while revenue slipped to 74.5 billion shillings from 91.5 billion shillings.

Kenya Airways went insolvent in 2018 after a costly expansion drive that left the airline with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. The government stepped in earlier this year, repaying a $150 million loan from local commercial banks, offering temporary relief as the airline sought stability.

CEO Allan Kilavuka told investors that one of the grounded planes returned to service in July, with a full fleet expected by next year. He said the airline would seek shareholder approval for the capital raise within the first three months of 2026.

“We’ve said the minimum we are gunning for is about half a billion dollars, which we believe is the baseline to support the fleet expansion we are targeting,” Kilavuka said.