Strike disrupts flights at Kenya's main airport for second day
Flight disruptions continued for a second day at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as aviation workers held a nationwide go-slow strike, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.
Disruptions at Kenya's main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, entered a second day on Monday as aviation sector workers continued a nationwide go-slow strike over working conditions and the implementation of a previously agreed deal.
The airports authority and national carrier Kenya Airways had warned on Sunday that departing flights could be delayed. A fresh round of talks between unions and airport management was scheduled for Monday after the previous day's discussions ended without agreement.
Hundreds of travellers have been left stranded at JKIA, with some spending the night in and around check-in areas awaiting updates. Kenya Airways said industrial action by air traffic control workers had caused delays of more than six hours, forcing it to cancel some departures because of the resulting backlog. The airline apologised for the disruption and said affected passengers could change or reschedule flights without penalty.
Flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed numerous delayed, cancelled or diverted flights. RwandAir said on Monday it had cancelled two more flights due to the operational constraints affecting air traffic control at the airport, following cancellations a day earlier.
One passenger travelling to a wedding in Florida told Reuters he had been waiting 12 hours after his flight was repeatedly delayed and eventually cancelled, with the earliest replacement flight not available until the following night. Another traveller told AFP that delayed updates were disrupting his travel plans.
The strike follows a two-day dispute in February over collective bargaining and the use of volunteers at the airport, which union officials say left concerns unresolved. JKIA is one of the region's busiest hubs and a key gateway between Africa and the rest of the world, handling about nine million passengers last year, according to Kenyan authorities. The airport has faced repeated strikes in recent years as workers press for better conditions.
