Kenya Airways, the country’s flag carrier, is seeking loans to augment the payment of staff salaries, as liquidity issues continue to prove a heavy burden for the wings of the ailing airliner.

“…So how am I paying my staff? I am paying them through debt,” said Chief executive officer Mbuvi Ngunze. He revealed this on a local business TV show while attempting to address a fleet of issues surrounding the company at the moment.

Kenya Airways has been through a rough patch over the last year, a period Mbuvi has labelled “tough financial times”. The airline’s loan book has swollen to Sh75 billion ($813 million), one of the highest in corporate Kenya. It is also struggling to attract fresh capital to pay its 4000 employees, a situation that could force it to send a significant portion back home.

It has attributed its current plight to the cancellation of flights to Ebola-hit countries in West Africa. The region was a key cash cow market for the East African carrier, particularly the countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – the worst-hit by the epidemic.