Thousands of travellers remained stranded at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Monday as a strike by aviation workers stretched into a second day, paralysing operations at Kenya’s busiest airport and rippling out to Mombasa’s Moi International Airport.
The walkout, called by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU), began early on Sunday and quickly escalated from a go-slow into a full work stoppage affecting staff at the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and the budget carrier Jambojet.
By Monday morning, hundreds of passengers who had spent the night in JKIA’s terminal buildings were still waiting for word on delayed and cancelled flights, with images circulating in Kenyan media showing crowded check-in halls and travellers sleeping on chairs and floors.
Kenya Airways said departures were running two to three hours behind schedule, though some passengers reported waits of up to six hours. At least one regional carrier confirmed cancelling flights into and out of Nairobi, citing disruption to air traffic control functions.
“Nothing is happening updates are reaching us late. It’s ruining our itinerary,” said William Obino, one of many travellers left waiting with no clear departure time.
Among those caught up in the chaos were a group of Daystar University students bound for South Korea, whose connecting flight from Dubai had not even left the ground by the time they arrived at the airport before dawn. Other passengers described sitting for hours in the heat with little information from airport staff.
At the heart of the strike is KAWU’s accusation that the government and aviation agencies reneged on a deal struck barely a month ago. On July 27, the union signed an agreement with KAWU, KAA, KCAA, Kenya Airways and Jambojet that suspended an earlier strike notice and set up talks on outstanding labour grievances; the parties also agreed to withdraw related court cases while negotiations continued.
KAWU Secretary-General Moses Ndiema said that, aside from Kenya Airways, the other parties failed to negotiate in good faith. He accused KAA and KCAA of ignoring the union’s demands and ultimately said workers had no choice but to resume industrial action.
The union’s grievances stretch back further than last month’s deal. KAWU has long pushed for a new collective bargaining agreement after years without one some employees, the union says, have gone more than a decade without a pay review, along with recognition of certain staff grades for union membership and adherence to earlier court rulings on employment matters. The union has also objected to the use of National Youth Service volunteers and other temporary personnel in sensitive airport roles, arguing it undermines both job security and safety standards.
Monday’s disruption is the latest in a string of walkouts that have hit Kenya’s aviation sector over the past year. A two-day strike in February 2026 grounded flights before a court order and a negotiated return-to-work formula restored operations, and a similar strike in September 2025 caused roughly two days of disruption before government intervention. Each time, the underlying dispute over pay and working conditions has resurfaced within months.
JKIA handles roughly 8.6 million passengers a year and serves as the primary gateway for East and Central Africa, making it central to Kenya’s tourism industry and to the export of high-value goods such as horticultural produce. Analysts note that even brief stoppages carry outsized costs, disrupting cargo schedules, delaying humanitarian flights and forcing airlines and freight forwarders to reconsider contingency routing through the region.
The KAA said in a travel advisory that it was working with airlines and other aviation agencies “to manage the situation, minimise disruption and facilitate the smooth flow of airport operations,” and urged passengers to confirm flight details with their airlines before travelling to the airport. Some carriers have begun arranging hotel transfers for stranded passengers and rebooking those unable to board delayed flights.
As of Monday, there was no indication of when the strike might end. Past disputes of this kind have typically been resolved within one to two days through court intervention or emergency negotiations, given the safety-critical nature of air traffic control work but with KAWU accusing authorities of repeatedly failing to honour past agreements, passengers at JKIA and Moi International Airport face continued uncertainty in the hours ahead.