Kenya airport staff strike delays thousands of passengers
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Stranded travellers wait with their luggage after their flight operations were disrupted due to a strike by workers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, Kenya, August 30, 2026. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi
NAIROBI, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Flight delays at Kenya's main international airport on Monday affected thousands of travellers as airport workers' go-slow strike action continued into its second day, with the main union saying negotiations were ongoing.
The Kenya Aviation Workers' Union (KAWU) said the strike at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was due to a range of grievances, including the inability to conclude a collective bargaining agreement with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and lack of cooperation from the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and Kenya Airways subsidiary Jambojet.
KAA on Sunday said some flights were experiencing delays without disclosing reasons for the delays. It did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and Jambojet did not respond to requests for comment.
Rwanda's national carrier RwandAir said in an X post on Sunday that it had cancelled two flights as a result of what it said were air traffic control challenges at the airport in Nairobi.
Passengers told Reuters they had spent hours at the airport waiting for news about their flights.
"When I got here, the flight was delayed till 1 a.m. So it was an hour and a half delay, and then there was another delay till 4:30 a.m. And then at about 3 o'clock, I went to the check-in. They told me that the flight's been cancelled," said rabbi Mendel Goldman, who is travelling to a wedding in Florida.
"The earliest flight they can get us is only tomorrow night, so we've got to wait," Goldman said on Monday. "We're going to try and make most of it, but in the meantime, I've been here for 12 hours now, waiting in the airport."
KAWU Secretary General Moss Ndiema said the union and government officials met on Sunday to resolve issues but without success.
"We have agreed to proceed with the engagements tomorrow, as from 11 o'clock in the morning. In the meantime, the strike action is still on," he said in comments broadcast on KTN Television on Sunday.
(Reporting by Monicah Mwangi, Humphrey Malalo and Vincent Mumo Nzilani; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Christopher Cushing)
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