A strike at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), one of Africa’s busiest airports, has caused big problems. Flights were delayed and cancelled for both local and international trips, Kenya Airways said on Wednesday.
The strike is led by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union. They are upset about a planned 30-year lease deal with India’s Adani Group.
This deal, announced in July, would let Adani Enterprises run the airport. The union worries this will mean people losing their jobs and new workers coming in from other countries.
Videos on local TV showed airport workers blowing horns and shouting slogans like “Adani must go.” In one video, police clashed with protesters, and an officer hit a protester with a baton.
The Kenyan government says they have not made a final decision on the lease yet. They say it’s a partnership to make the airport better, as it’s very busy right now. The officials also say the airport is not being sold.
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) said that some services started running again by 7:00 AM local time (0400 GMT), and they are trying to get things back to normal. Videos on social media showed long lines of passengers stuck outside JKIA’s terminal because of the strike.
The strike also affected other airports in Kisumu and Mombasa, making the situation worse. Kenya’s High Court has stopped the Adani deal for now. They want to review it, which includes plans for a new runway and terminal improvements.
What to know
On September 10, 2024, the Kenyan High Court paused a $1.85 billion deal between the government and Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. This deal would have let them run Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for 30 years. The court’s decision, waiting for further review, followed a request from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).
LSK and KHRC said Kenya could get the money to improve the airport itself, without facing financial risks, losing jobs, or giving bad value to taxpayers. They said leasing JKIA, a key national asset, to a private company goes against the rules of good governance and public money use. The court’s hold stops any steps towards the lease until the review is done.
The proposed deal has received pushback, especially from the Kenya Aviation Workers Union, which warned about job cuts and hiring foreign workers.