Airlines rocked by air traffic controllers strike

Airlines are facing sporadic disruption of services at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport due to a go slow by air traffic controllers over pay.

The controllers withdrew their goodwill on Monday over what union officials attributed to failure to implement a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which was signed last year following a similar go-slow.

This has led to airlines being delayed for up to an hour as they wait for clearance to depart.

Goodwill is an agreement between management and union workers that requires staff to work even beyond the stipulated time in the CBA including overtime, but still within the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) regulations.

“It’s sporadic, there are days or peak times we have been hit hard,” said Kenya Airways communications manager Chris Karanja.

He said the airline was hard hit last week on Friday and has seen other pockets of major delays, with passenger filled planes sitting on the taxiway ready for take-off.

The over 300 workers represented by AAWU started their go slow last week. Nixon Ooko, a director at Fly 540, said the delays were between 30 to 60 minutes, which was hurting the airline’s operations.

In an earlier interview with the Business Daily AAWU’s secretary-general Nicholas Baraza said the workers were not happy due to some pending issues with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which was signed last year following a similar go-slow. The union is in talks with Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.

The over 300 workers represented by AAWU started their go slow last week.