Crisis at JKIA: Hundreds Stranded as Aviation Strike Paralyzes East Africa’s Busiest Airport Hub

Pandemonium erupted at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) early Wednesday as a sudden, indefinite strike by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) grounded operations, leaving hundreds of regional and international passengers stranded. Flag carrier Kenya Airways confirmed that the industrial action had caused flight delays exceeding six hours, with several critical regional routes suffering outright cancellations. The unfolding crisis has turned East Africa’s most critical aviation hub into a scene of frustration, with long queues spilling onto the terminal approaches and check-in counters left completely unmanned.

At the heart of the bitter dispute is a controversial, allegedly shrouded-in-secrecy proposal by the Kenyan government to lease the strategic state asset to the Indian conglomerate, Adani Group, under a 30-year concession. According to union representatives, the proposed $1.85 billion deal, which involves expanding the airport and building a new passenger terminal, poses a direct threat to local jobs. Workers fear that the concessions will lead to mass layoffs, the degradation of working conditions, and the unconstitutional outsourcing of national security infrastructure to foreign entities.

The government, led by President William Ruto, has robustly defended the public-private partnership (PPP) model, arguing that JKIA is operating far beyond its capacity and urgently requires modernizing infrastructure that the state cannot currently afford. However, critics and civil society organizations argue that the bidding process lacked transparency. Subject to official confirmation, legal experts have already moved to the High Court of Kenya, obtaining a temporary injunction halting the deal, yet the union insisted on industrial action to force a complete withdrawal of the proposal.