The Kenya Airways recorded a net profit after tax of sh860m during the first half of this year compared to last year's sh736m.

According to un-audited interim results, the Airline's net profit margin improved marginally from 2.2 per cent last year to 2.6 per cent this year.

The Airline's Chief Operating Officer Mr. Bram Stellar said that the global economic melt down that started last year and the two-day staff strike that occurred in August, this year, adversely affected the Airlines performance.

Speaking Friday at a Nairobi hotel during the announcement of the results, Bram said the global economic melt down and the staff strike will also affect the Airline's performance for the second half of the year.

He said the aviation industry outlook remains fragile with losses from commercial airlines worldwide expected to continue to 2010 albeit at lower levels than previous years.

"The performance of the Kenya Airways is better than many other airlines that have posted losses during the same period," he said

He said that the cargo volumes reduced by 14.8 per cent this year.

Bram said that the fuel cost excluding hedge cost reduced by shs 5.7 billion or 39.6 per cent over the period compared to last year.

He added that the significant reduction was primarily driven by lower jet fuel prices that realized a total reduction on cost by shs 9.1 billion.

The Chief Operator said that the overheads increased by shs 1.1 billion or 19.4 percent compared to last year.

He said this was largely driven by the union staff pay award of ash 168m.