Operations will not be disrupted despite aviation workers' strike notice, KAA assures

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has assured travellers that it has taken all necessary measures to ensure that operations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) continue without disruption.

In a statement on Friday 16 August, the authority said it is committed to maintaining the highest standard of service for all passengers despite the planned strike by aviation workers from Monday, August 19. 

“We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of service for all passengers and stakeholders at all our airport facilities across the country. In preparation for the potential strike action scheduled for Monday, August 19, 2024, the authority has put necessary contingency measures in place to ensure that airport operations continue without any disruptions,” the statement read.

The strike notice by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) follows a dispute over the proposed lease of JKIA to a private operator.

KAWU issued a seven-day strike notice to KAA on 11 August over the proposed public-private partnership with India's Adani Airport Holdings Ltd.

According to KAWU, which represents airport workers, the proposed deal with the company, announced last month, would result in job losses and the use of non-Kenyan worker

“On Monday we will be serving KAA and all organizations within the aviation sector on strike notice. Last week we gave the government seven days to meet our demands. We don’t intend to launch a strike on Monday. But we will pull our members out of work for purposes of delivering the strike notice,” said KAWU Secretary General Moses Ndiema.

The authority has said Adani would add a second runway at JKIA and upgrade the passenger terminal.
Last month, Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka petitioned the Senate Committee on Roads and Transport for an explanation on how the alleged deal with Adani to operate JKIA under a build, operate and transfer model was signed.

“It is reported that KAA entered an agreement with Adani Commercial a private company to “build operate and transfer’ to lease JKIA. The purpose is to pay a fixed concession fee as will be agreed in the concession agreement,” he said in a request to the Senate Speaker Amason Kingi.

“The tenure of the model will be 30 years, where the assets developed through capital expenditure by the company will be transferred to KAA at the expiry of the concession term at a value determined and agreed by the parties, which value shall be structured to grant the company an equity of 18 percent,” he added.

With eight airports in its management and development portfolio, Adani Airport Holdings Limited is India's largest airport infrastructure company, accounting for 25 percent of passenger footfalls and 33 percent of India’s air cargo traffic.

The government said in a statement on the Adani proposal last month that JKIA was stretched beyond its capacity of 7.5 million passengers a year and in urgent need of improvements, citing incidents like leaking roofs which it said had caused "international embarrassment".

The government said that modernising JKIA could cost at least $2 billion, which the government was "constrained to fund due to the current tight fiscal situation".

“The Adani’s offer is currently being reviewed and if a deal is agreed, there would be safeguards to ensure Kenya's national interests are protected,” it said. 
A nationwide youth-led protest movement that emerged in June over proposed tax hikes has also criticised a perceived lack of transparency over the proposed Adani deal.

Last month police blocked protesters from accessing JKIA, which they had aimed to shut down.

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