Dozens of flights in Kenya are being cancelled following a strike by Kenya Airways pilots. This is affecting thousands of passengers.
Angry passengers described huge queues at Airports, with many only learning their flights were cancelled when they arrived to check-in. The Kenya Airline Pilots Association said no Kenya Airways flight flown by its members had departed Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport early Yesterday.
The Airline has faced years of losses and pilots are striking over retirement funds and the payment of all salaries stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic. The pilots announced the strike in defiance of a court order against industrial action and gave no indication of how long it will last. Kenya Airways is jointly owned by the Kenyan government and Air France-KLM and earlier warned the strike would jeopardize its recovery, estimating losses at 2-point-5 million dollars per day if the action took place.
Transport Minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, suggested the strikers are being unreasonable. Though they respect the views and the concerns of the pilots, they believe they went about it the wrong way and the company and the government of Kenya is willing to listen to the issues being raised.
