Thousanda of passengers were on Saturday, stranded at different airports in Kenya following a strike action embarked by the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA), which was later made worse when all airport workers joined in.
As a result of the strike, more than two dozen flights of the Kenya Airways, one of Africa’s biggest carriers, were cancelled despite the government urging the pilots to call off the strike and get back to the negotiation table.
The KALPA, on Friday at press conference, announced plans to commence a strike action on Saturday to demand better working conditions, despite a court ruling suspending their strike notice.
The Pilots’ Association said the strike had become inevitable as several meetings with management had not yielded any positive progress.
According to local media, the strike that started at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) has affected business and leisure travellers at one of Africa’s most important aviation hubs.
While announcing the commencement of the strike, KALPA said in a statement:
“No KQ (Kenya Airways) aircraft has departed Jomo Kenyatta International Airport flown by a KALPA member from 6 a.m. this morning. The strike is fully in force.”
In a press release, Kenya Airways apologised to passengers in and said it would do its best to minimise the inconvenience which could include rebooking them onto alternative flights.
Kenyan Transport Minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, in an interview on NTV, condemned the pilots, saying the strike was ill-timed.
“The pilots are throwing away the baby with the bath water. It is about 10,000 passengers affected so far and if the situation continues like this, the impact on the other sectors of the economy, tourism, will be severe,” the minister said.