Kenya Airways will seek to raise several hundred million dollars in fresh capital in the next step of a restructuring that has seen it dispose of aircraft and announce a 15 per cent cut in staff. The Nairobi-listed airline’s share price is down almost 90% in five years. An ambitious expansion plan collapsed in the face of falling tourist arrivals to east. CE Mbuvi Ngunze said that the size of the capital raise “was still being worked out” and would be announced next month. But he added, “Nirvana would be to go to the market with a lesser requirement” than the $300m-$400m being discussed by analysts. “There’s already quite some interest in [Kenya Airways] because of our unique hub position, our investment in Africa. So people have come to the table with different ideas,” he said. “We will have to take those ideas, looking at what our requirement is, and decide what works for us.” Kenya Airways last went to the markets in 2011 with a $3.65b capital raising. It has made a loss in each of the past three years, including Ks25.7bn ($255m) in the year to March 2015, the largest in the country’s corporate history.<br/>The average occupancy of its flights, known as the load factor, fell to 63.8%, about 15 percentage points below the industry average and 8 percentage points lower than rival Ethiopian Airlines, according to data from IATA. <br/>
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Air France flights to Iran have continued to draw ire among members of the airline's cabin staff as gay aircrew last week launched a petition against being "forced" to work on flights to the Islamic Republic. The petition, written on behalf of a group of gay airline stewards, charged that it was "inconceivable" that they would be ordered to travel to Iran where homosexuality is outlawed and punishable by execution. The latest objection by Air France workers came mere days after the airline said last Monday that it would permit female cabin crew and pilots to opt out of Paris-Tehran flights after some staff said they did not want to be forced to wear head coverings when in Iran. The new appeal directed to the French government and Air France CEO Frédéric Gagey was posted under the title 'Gay stewards from Air France don't want to fly to the death penalty in Iran' on the online petition platform change.org. So far, it has garnered over 2,400 signatories. "Sure, our sexuality isn't written on our passports and it doesn't change the way we work as a crew," read the petition that was posted by a representative 'Laurent M.' "But it is inconceivable to force someone to go to a country where his kind are condemned for who they are."<br/>