Flights taking off and landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi face disruptions from today after Kenya Airways (KQ) pilots failed to call off a planned strike, defying a court order.
The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa), says they will down their tools because KQ management has turned a deaf ear to their grievances.
“Beginning Saturday, 5th November 2022, from 6.00 am local time, there shall be no Kenya Airways aircraft departing JKIA flown by a Kalpa member,” Kalpa general-secretary Murithi Nyaga said in a statement on Friday.
The Labour Court Monday temporarily halted the strike, which had threatened to paralyse KQ operations and derail its recovery from the effects of travel restrictions that followed the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kenya Airways had sought court orders to stop the industrial action citing the risk of paying hefty fines on cancellation of flights totalling about Sh 300 million.
Kalpa issued a 14-day strike notice on October 19, citing four reasons.
Kenya Airways said it was experiencing disruptions to its flight schedule.
The airline had described the planned strike as unlawful and warned that it could jeopardise its recovery from the pandemic, and the airline could at a minimum lose 300 million shillings.
In last-minute talks to avert a strike, Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen had issued a plea to the pilots union not to go ahead with the industrial action.
Different witness accounts of the KDF Helicopter crash