Kenya Airways Ltd’s pretax loss shrank 60.9 percent in the year to end-March to 10.2 billion shillings ($98.84 million), the company said on Thursday.

The carrier, which saw losses mount after a slump in Kenyan tourism and an expensive fleet renewal exercise, swung to an operating profit of 897 million shillings from a loss of 4 billion shillings a year earlier.

The company, part-owned by the state and AirFrance KLM, said it ferried 5.4 percent more passengers to a total of 4.5 million during the period.

It’s cabin factor, which measures the average seats occupancy on a flight, improved 4 percentage points to 72.3 percent.

“We still have our tough times but we are looking up,” Dick Murianki, the airline’s acting finance director, told an investor briefing.

($1 = 103.2000 Kenyan shillings)

( Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)