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Flight delays as aviation workers down their tools
Security checks at the entrance of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- The union had last week issued a seven-day strike notice to Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.
- Among the union’s key demands is the employment of workers on permanent and pensionable term.
Aviation workers on Monday downed their tools, effectively disrupting air travel across the country.
According to Kenya Aviation Workers Union (Kawu) Secretary-General Moss Ndiema, the strike began at 6am. It affects both passengers and airlines, causing operational delays at key airports.
“There’s a big backlog. Planes are hardly leaving [the airports],” Mr Ndiema told the Nation on phone.
The Kenya Aviation Workers Union secretary-general Moss Ndiema addresses members of the union during a meeting on February 14, 2026.
Kenya Airways has issued a statement advising travellers to expect possible flight adjustments and delays due to air traffic control disruptions at JKIA.
The union had last week issued a seven-day strike notice to Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) warning that failure to address their grievances would see them proceed with the industrial action as planned.
Among the union’s key demands is the employment of workers on permanent and pensionable terms, which it says remains unresolved.
Paralyse civil aviation services
Members of Kenya Aviation Workers Union during a meeting on February 14, 2026 when the union declared a strike in the aviation sector.
The expiry of the notice period has now paved the way for a strike that is likely to severely disrupt operations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and other facilities nationwide.
The union's decision to issue the strike “is an honest act of last resort and is a culmination of KCAA's insensitive and chest-thumping attitude towards employees' issues and an outright lack of goodwill in engaging the union to resolve industrial disputes which have remained outstanding for over ten years,” Kawu said a week ago.
Officials of Kenya Aviation Workers Union during a media briefing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on February 9, 2026.
The last Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), according to Kawu, lapsed in 2015 and attempts to “negotiate and conclude a new CBA” have been futile.
The Kawu Secretary-General said that for more than a decade, unionisable KCAA employees have endured stagnant terms of service, with salaries, allowances and other benefits remaining unreviewed.
“Whereas it is not the Union's wish and intention to paralyze civil aviation services, KCAA's hardline stance and its callous, insensitive and reckless attitude leaves the Union with no alternative but to take legal industrial action,” he said in a statement on February 9.
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