Thousands stranded as pilots at Kenya’s flag carrier go on strike

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Flight disruptions left passengers stranded following a strike Saturday by Kenya Airways pilots.

The strike also affected flights taking off and landing in the East African country.

The pilots began the strike despite a court order preventing the industrial action.

The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA), the main pilots union, said members are not going back to work until their grievances are addressed.

“There shall be no Kenya Airways aircraft departing JKIA (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) flown by a KALPA member,” the group’s head Murithi Nyaga said at a news conference in the nation’s capital in Nairobi.

Nyaga said “the purpose of this industrial action is not to test the new government. There are painstaking issues that have been on the table for far too long and KALPA believes that the time is right to have them resolved once and for all.”

Kenya Airways management told stranded passengers that it sincerely apologizes “for the inconvenience to your travel due to the ongoing unlawful strike by our pilots. We will do our best to provide you an alternative solution at the earliest opportunity which may include rebooking you on other airlines.”

Kenya’s Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the strike is illegal and sabotages the economy.

“The government is willing to listen to the issues they are raising but let us do that within the law by first stopping the strike and coming to the negotiating table,” he said.

Murkomen added that most hotels in the capital had been fully booked to accommodate stranded passengers who are connecting to other destinations.

Some of the passengers who spoke to Anadolu Agency lamented that they had been stranded before dawn local time.

"We have been waiting here with no communication from 4 a.m. this Saturday morning. We already missed our connection flights," said Lorenzo, who did not want to give his last name.

Among the grievances pilots want to be addressed include, reinstating a suspended provident fund that was suspended during the coronavirus pandemic They also want the handling of alleged clandestine governance and leadership issues in the company.

In addition, the pilots want the airline to execute pay agreements as agreed without further delay. Some pilots argue that there is alleged victimization of members in the union and they want the board and management fired for the challenges they are facing.

Kenya Airways flies to 42 locations across the world, 35 of which are in Africa. The official flag carrier of Kenya carries more than 4 million passengers annually.