Nairobi, May 27 -- National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) added 430 staff members to its workforce last year against reduced operations, which resulted largely from the grounding of aircraft in the period.

The airline's staff reached 5,672 from 5,242 staff at the end of 2024 as the carrier added 67 permanent employees and 363 contracted workers as per disclosures from its latest 2025 annual report.

The bulk of the new hires at 285 were added to management and administration roles while 137 took up technical openings. Employees in flight operations rose by a modest 29 staff in a year but the company shed 21 jobs in ground handling services.

The larger workforce resulted in increased staff costs for the group, which totaled Sh27.4 billion f...