Dubai is preparing to host the global travel trade next week as the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2026 opens at Dubai World Trade Centre from 14 to 17 September.
Now in its 33rd edition, ATM brings together airlines, tourism boards, hotels, tour operators, travel agencies, technology companies and other travel businesses from international markets. The event is being held under the theme “Travel 2040: Driving New Frontiers Through Innovation and Technology.”
The 2026 edition has been moved to September following consultations with exhibitors and industry stakeholders. The organisers said the revised dates were intended to support participation and business opportunities for international exhibitors, buyers and visitors.
For African travel professionals attending the event, the programme will provide opportunities to engage with airlines, destinations, hospitality companies, technology providers and other suppliers across key travel markets. ATM’s official exhibitor directory currently lists more than 1,400 exhibitors, while the event expects participation from travel professionals representing markets across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia-Pacific and beyond.
Technology will be a significant feature of this year’s event, with ATM Travel Tech running alongside the main exhibition. Artificial intelligence, data, digital transformation, robotics, immersive technologies, fintech and smart mobility are among the areas being highlighted. Sabre has been confirmed as the official ATM Travel Tech Strategic Partner for 2026.
The event will also provide a marketplace for travel buyers and suppliers to develop commercial partnerships, discover new products and hold business meetings. ATM says previous editions have generated significant business activity, with the event’s official figures highlighting more than 57,000 confirmed meetings and more than 6,600 buyers.
With the event now only days away, attention will turn to the destinations, airlines, hotel groups and travel technology companies exhibiting in Dubai, as the international travel industry gathers for four days of networking, product development and business discussions.
Extreme heat is increasingly affecting tourism patterns across Africa, with operators adjusting the timing and structure of travel experiences as temperatures rise.
An analysis published by OkayAfrica on September 2 highlighted how climate conditions are already influencing tourism in different parts of the continent. In North Africa, particularly Egypt, rising temperatures are affecting how visitors experience major outdoor attractions, with sightseeing increasingly being planned around the cooler hours of the day.
The World Meteorological Organisation identifies North Africa as Africa’s fastest-warming subregion. According to figures cited in the report, the region recorded an average temperature 1.28°C above the 1991–2020 average.
The changes are also being felt in safari destinations in Southern Africa, where planning activities around heat has long been part of the travel experience. Safari operators are adjusting daily programmes to make greater use of cooler periods, including early mornings, while avoiding the hottest parts of the day.
The report notes that changing climate conditions are affecting more than temperatures. Longer dry periods, heavier rainfall, and changes in river levels are also influencing tourism environments and the conditions visitors experience.
For destinations dependent on outdoor attractions, these changes are prompting adjustments to how activities are scheduled. Safari and cultural and heritage tourism operators are among those who have to consider changing weather conditions when organising visitor experiences.
The developments come as tourism continues to make a significant contribution to African economies. The report cites World Travel & Tourism Council figures showing that travel and tourism contributed US$228 billion to Africa’s economy in 2025, equivalent to 7% of the continent’s GDP, while supporting about 30.2 million jobs.
Tourism businesses are also introducing measures to respond to changing environmental conditions, including rainwater harvesting, grey-water recycling, renewable energy and building designs aimed at improving natural ventilation.
The report further notes that climate change could alter traditional tourism seasons and influence when travellers choose to visit different parts of the continent.
TAAG Angola Airlines and LATAM Brasil have signed a new codeshare agreement that significantly expands the Angolan carrier’s reach into Brazil, giving passengers access to 57 domestic destinations beyond São Paulo through a single integrated network.
Announced on September 1, the agreement allows passengers travelling on TAAG to connect at São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) onto LATAM’s domestic network. The destinations include major cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Salvador, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre and Curitiba, as well as leisure markets including Foz do Iguaçu, Fernando de Noronha, Bonito and Porto Seguro.
For travellers, the significance is not simply the number of destinations added. The codeshare enables the two airlines to integrate their networks, allowing eligible itineraries to be sold as a single journey, with integrated check-in, baggage handling and passenger assistance during connections.
The agreement strengthens Luanda’s position as a potential bridge between Africa and South America, allowing TAAG to expand its commercial reach without having to operate each additional Brazilian route itself. The airlines are also considering expanding the partnership to include LATAM’s international services in South and North America.
What does it mean for Nairobi?
The development is particularly interesting for Kenya’s travel trade because TAAG already operates a direct Nairobi–Luanda service. Current schedules show nonstop TAAG services between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Luanda’s Dr António Agostinho Neto International Airport, creating the first leg of a potential Nairobi–Luanda–São Paulo journey.
That gives Nairobi-based travel agents another routing option when selling Brazil and potentially other South American markets.
Rather than routing passengers through traditional European or Middle Eastern gateways, agents could construct itineraries via Luanda and São Paulo, depending on schedules, fares, and availability. The TAAG network already lists Nairobi among its destinations, alongside São Paulo and several other African and international markets.
For the Kenyan market, this could be particularly relevant for business travel, leisure travel, students, diaspora traffic and travellers visiting multiple destinations in Brazil. A passenger travelling from Nairobi to Rio de Janeiro, for example, could potentially travel Nairobi–Luanda–São Paulo and then connect onward to Rio under the expanded TAAG-LATAM network.
The commercial opportunity for agents is therefore broader than simply selling a new airline connection. Codeshare agreements give travel agents more combinations to work with when building itineraries, particularly where direct services between two markets do not exist.
It also places greater emphasis on Luanda as a hub connecting East Africa and Latin America. With TAAG operating the Nairobi–Luanda link and its international operations consolidated at Luanda’s new airport, the Angolan capital is positioning itself as an alternative African gateway for long-haul traffic.
For Nairobi’s travel industry, the immediate takeaway is to watch the TAAG-LATAM partnership as a potential new routing option to Brazil, particularly once fares, schedules and booking availability across the combined network become clearer.
Demand for air travel to, from and within Africa rose by 6.4 per cent year-on-year in July 2026, thereby outperforming the global market where passenger demand grew by just 0.2 per cent, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said.
The latest IATA global passenger demand data for July 2026 showed that African airlines recorded a 6.4 per cent increase in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK), compared with July 2025, reflecting continued expansion in the continent’s aviation market despite persistent economic and operational challenges.
The report said the strong growth in passenger demand was accompanied by an even higher 9.0 per cent increase in available seat capacity, resulting in a decline in the passenger load factor to 74.1 per cent.
According to IATA, the load factor for African airlines fell by 1.8 percentage points compared with July 2025.
The performance placed Africa among the stronger-performing international aviation markets during the peak Northern Hemisphere summer travel season. However, it trailed Latin America, which recorded 7.1 per cent growth in demand during the period, the report said.
Globally, total passenger demand, measured in RPK, increased by only 0.2 per cent year-on-year in July, while airline capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK), rose by 0.3 per cent.
The global passenger load factor consequently stood at 85.2 per cent, representing a marginal 0.1 percentage-point decline from July 2025.
The relatively weak global growth was attributed to collective declines among airlines in North America and the Middle East, even as other regions posted stronger performance.
Commenting on the development, IATA’s Senior Vice President, Sustainability, and Chief Economist, Marie Thomsen, said the peak Northern summer travel season had produced a largely positive outcome for the global aviation industry.
Thomsen said: “The peak Northern summer travel season is a mostly positive story for air travel. Overall growth of 0.2 per cent in July was achieved despite year-on-year collective declines by carriers in North America and the Middle East. Notably, traffic through the Gulf hubs continues to recover.
“Although high fuel costs, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions continue, carriers are expressing confidence in demand for the last part of the year with an almost 3 per cent expansion of seat capacity in September.”
Thomsen noted that traffic through the Gulf hubs was continuing its recovery, while airlines were maintaining confidence in demand for the remaining months of the year.
She added that carriers were planning an almost three per cent expansion in seat capacity in September despite high fuel prices, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.
The African market’s 6.4 per cent demand growth comes against the backdrop of continued efforts by governments and airlines across the continent to expand connectivity, develop new routes, and capitalise on the growing demand for intra-African travel.
However, the 9 per cent increase in capacity, compared with the 6.4 per cent growth in demand, highlights the challenge facing African carriers in converting additional seats into passengers.
With the continent’s load factor standing at 74.1 per cent, African airlines recorded the lowest load factor among the major international regions covered by IATA in July.
For international markets globally, passenger demand fell by 0.1 per cent year-on-year in July, while capacity increased by 0.3 per cent. However, when Middle Eastern carriers were excluded, international demand grew by 1.5 per cent.
European airlines recorded a 3.1 per cent increase in demand, with capacity rising by 3.2 per cent and the load factor standing at 87.1 per cent.
Africa’s commercial aircraft fleet is expected to more than double by 2045 as rising air travel demand, urbanisation, a growing middle class and improved infrastructure drive expansion across the continent, according to Boeing.
The aerospace company’s 2026 Commercial Market Outlook projects passenger traffic in Africa will grow by nearly six per cent annually over the next two decades, pushing the commercial fleet from about 755 aircraft to 1,625.
African airlines are expected to require nearly 1,200 new aircraft, with single-aisle jets accounting for the largest share as carriers expand domestic and regional networks. Demand for widebody aircraft is also expected to more than double, supporting fleet modernisation and the growth of long-haul routes.
Intra-African travel is forecast to grow faster than the regional average as connectivity improves, while Europe is expected to remain Africa’s largest international passenger market through 2045, supported by tourism, trade and strong economic and social links.
The growth will extend beyond passenger aviation. Boeing expects Africa’s freighter fleet to increase from 60 to 150 aircraft as e-commerce, logistics and high-value exports expand.
The aviation boom is also expected to create significant demand for skills and services. Boeing estimates the continent will require about 75,000 additional aviation professionals by 2045, including 22,000 pilots, 25,000 technicians and 28,000 cabin crew. The company also forecasts a $140 billion market for aviation services, including maintenance, repair, overhaul, modifications and digital solutions.
Shahab Matin, Boeing’s managing director of Commercial Marketing, said Africa’s aviation market was entering a period of sustained growth driven by stronger connectivity, increased intra-African travel and deeper economic ties with global markets.
For African airlines, the outlook points to growing opportunities to expand networks and strengthen the continent’s connections with major tourism and business markets, while highlighting the need for continued investment in aircraft, infrastructure, technology, and aviation talent.
The forecast reinforces the growing role of aviation in supporting Africa’s tourism, trade and economic development as demand for air travel continues to rise.
Kenya Airways has appointed Habil Waswani as its Acting Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, marking a new chapter in the leadership of the national carrier as it continues to strengthen its operations and advance its transformation agenda.
Habil Waswani as its Acting Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Airways.
Waswani, who currently serves as the airline’s Company Secretary and Director of Legal Services and Regulatory Compliance, will assume the role on 15 September 2026, succeeding Captain George Kamal.
Kamal has served in Kenya Airways’ executive leadership for more than four years, initially as Chief Operating Officer, before taking on the role of Acting Group Managing Director and CEO in December 2025.
During his tenure, Kamal brought extensive aviation expertise to the airline and played an important role in strengthening operational stability. He also guided the carrier through an executive transition while supporting the implementation of its turnaround strategy.
The Kenya Airways Board has expressed its appreciation for Kamal’s commitment, leadership, and dedication to the airline, recognizing the contributions he has made during his time with the carrier. He will remain with Kenya Airways through a transition period, supporting continuity as Waswani assumes the acting role.
Waswani brings more than two decades of experience in corporate and commercial law, governance and regulatory affairs. Since joining Kenya Airways, he has been closely involved in the airline’s legal, regulatory and corporate affairs, giving him a strong understanding of the organization and the aviation environment in which it operates.
His appointment provides continuity at a significant point in Kenya Airways’ journey as the airline continues to focus on operational reliability, customer experience, network and fleet optimization, sustainability and a return to sustainable financial performance.
Kenya Airways remains a key connector between Africa and the world, linking Kenya to major destinations across the continent, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Through its extensive network, the airline continues to play an important role in supporting trade, tourism and business connectivity while strengthening Nairobi’s position as a regional aviation hub.
The Board has commenced a competitive process to recruit a substantive Group Managing Director and CEO, while reaffirming its commitment to the airline’s long-term transformation and growth ambitions.
As Waswani prepares to take the helm in an acting capacity, Kenya Airways enters its next phase with a clear focus on building on the progress made, maintaining operational momentum and continuing to deliver on its role as The Pride of Africa.
A travel exhibition can fill a room. A B2B platform has to fill appointment books.
That distinction is at the heart of the Spotlight Travel Expo, which has spent the past 26 years connecting Africa’s travel trade with airlines, hotels, destinations, tour operators, destination management companies and other suppliers.
The latest Nairobi edition, held from September 1–3, brought together more than 350 travel professionals and over 50 exhibitors, turning the event into a concentrated marketplace for meetings, product discovery and commercial conversations.
For two days, travel agents from across Kenya moved through a program of scheduled B2B meetings, product showcases, networking sessions, and prize draws, meeting suppliers they would otherwise have to reach via multiple sales calls, international trade shows, or overseas visits.
The turnout also stretched beyond Nairobi. KATA members traveled from the Coast, Kisumu and Eldoret, bringing different regional markets into the same trading space.
It is a format that increasingly sits comfortably within the broader MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) economy, where the value of an event is measured not only by attendance but by the business relationships and transactions it creates.
Globally, business events attracted an estimated 1.65 billion participants in 2025 and generated US$1.3 trillion in direct spending, according to the Events Industry Council and Oxford Economics. Their wider economic contribution reached US$3.1 trillion in business sales and US$1.8 trillion in global GDP.
Africa’s business-events market has its own considerable footprint. Earlier EIC and Oxford Economics research put direct business-events spending on the continent at US$23.4 billion, involving 80.6 million participants and supporting approximately 328,000 direct jobs.
Kenya is seeking a larger share of that market. The country hosted 21 international association meetings in 2023, ranking third in Africa, while Nairobi has emerged as one of the continent’s established business-events destinations.
But the MICE economy is not built only around large conferences.
Trade exhibitions such as Spotlight play an important role in the ecosystem by bringing buyers and sellers to the same table, creating the conditions for introductions to become partnerships, partnerships to become contracts, and contacts to become repeat business.
That commercial focus has been central to Spotlight’s expansion. The series has now staged more than 150 editions across more than 15 African cities, connecting thousands of travel professionals over more than two decades.
Houston Travel Marketing Services founder Derek Houston, who has driven the platform for 26 years, has described the wider objective as promoting Pan-African travel and creating stronger connections across the continent’s travel trade.
The Nairobi edition showed what that approach looks like on the ground: hundreds of buyers, dozens of suppliers and a tightly structured schedule designed to maximize the number of commercial conversations taking place under one roof.
And the platform is taking those conversations to another Kenyan market.
Mombasa will host its first Spotlight Travel Expo on November 26, 2026, bringing the trade-show format to the Coast and creating another meeting ground for Kenya’s travel industry.
When Charles Gikundi joined East African Airways on October 3, 1970, he walked into an aviation industry that connected three newly independent East African countries and extended far beyond them. The airline flew to destinations across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, with Nairobi at the center of a network carrying the region’s ambitions.
Gikundi was young and fresh from school. He had come from the village to Nairobi to find work and found himself dealing with airline tickets at a time when travel agents worked with two essential references: the ABC timetable for flights and the APT for fares. “It was not simple for me, a village boy brought to town to work on tickets and matters of travel,” he recalled at the 2026 KATA AGM and Convention.
Charles Gikundi at the 2026 KATA AGM & Convention
East African Airways was a substantial operation. By 1975, it employed about 4,700 people and operated 16 aircraft, while its network included cities such as London, Rome, Frankfurt, Bombay, Cairo and Zürich. Its fleet included Super VC-10s, Comets and Fokker Friendships, aircraft from an era when flying was still an event rather than the routine it would become.
The airline did not survive the decade. East African Airways ceased operations in 1977, leaving Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to establish separate national carriers, with Kenya Airways emerging as Kenya’s flag carrier.
Gikundi had already moved to Air France. He remembers the period with a smile: “I learned about wine and finer things in life.” There, he continued to expand his knowledge of international travel and eventually decided to leave his employment and build a company of his own.
By then, Kenya’s travel market was growing. International visitor arrivals had risen from roughly 340,000 in 1970 to more than 800,000 by 1990, while Kenya Airways had established itself as the country’s new national carrier. The airline carried about 643,000 passengers in 1990; five years later, the figure was around 1.8 million.
That was the market into which Gikundi registered Charleston Travel in 1990. The company began operations the following year, at a time when Kenya was attracting more tourists, international businesses and business travelers, and the travel agency was becoming an increasingly important link between airlines and customers.
The early operation was a “one-man show”, as Gikundi describes it. Some companies were reluctant to trust a small operator, while financing the business required him to pledge personal assets as collateral for loans. “I was a lone operator,” he said. “Some companies could not trust me.”
Eventually, he changed the structure of the business. Gikundi brought in partners and sold shares to other directors, a decision he now regards as one of the most important he made. “It is the best decision I made,” he said. “When the partners came, we moved from 20 employees to 50, then 100, then 150,” Gikundi recalled. By 2013, about 90 percent of Charleston’s clients were corporate customers. The company had also established a MICE department and was looking at Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Somalia.
In January 2013, Charleston partnered with FCM Travel Solutions and was rebranded as FCM Travel Solutions Kenya. At the time, the international FCM network covered more than 75 countries.
FCM Travel Solutions Kenya continued to build its corporate travel business, handling corporate travel alongside meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions. Its regional plans included expansion into emerging markets in East Africa and beyond.
The travel desk was changing too. Computerized reservations and electronic ticketing were replacing the paper-heavy processes Gikundi had known. Online booking brought fares and schedules closer to travelers, while corporate travel management increasingly involved coordinating flights, hotels, meetings, and travel across multiple destinations.
Then came 2020.
FCM Travel Solutions Kenya marked the business’s 30th anniversary as COVID-19 brought international travel to a near halt. Aircraft that had spent their lives crossing continents were suddenly parked for weeks and months, airports emptied, and travel companies faced a crisis unlike anything Gikundi had experienced in his career. “When airlines started parking aircraft in graveyards and putting red blankets on the engines, it scared me,” Gikundi said. “Seeing airplanes going to sleep took away my own sleep.”
The company closed its office, and Gikundi found himself confronting the possibility that the industry he had known since leaving school might not return. “I thought travel had come to an end.” The company had about 35 employees when the pandemic struck. There were salaries to think about, families depending on the business, and a travel industry with almost no travel. Gikundi’s response was short: “We can’t shut down.”
The business survived the pandemic, and in 2026, the company, founded as Charleston Travel 36 years earlier, is operating as FCM Travel Solutions Kenya, while Gikundi has spent 56 years in the travel industry.
The market has changed in scale. Kenya recorded about 2.4 million international visitors in 2024, generating Sh452.2 billion in tourism earnings. In 2025, international arrivals rose to about 2.7 million, while tourism earnings passed Sh500 billion. The paper ticket of 1970 had given way to electronic tickets, online bookings and digital distribution. The travel agency desk had moved from printed schedules and fare books to systems that could search and price journeys in seconds.
Gikundi is now focused on succession. He says the people around him are strategic partners carrying the company’s vision. “Succession is something that we need to think seriously about,” he said. “I’m confident the business is in good hands. It will stand the test of time.”
His advice to those coming into the industry is brief. “We must be dedicated. Be resilient. It gets tough.” He also recalls a lesson from M.P. Shah: “Don’t leave anything in yourself. Give everything.”
At the KATA convention, under the theme The Journey: Build to Last, Gikundi put his own definition to the test of time: “The true measure of success lies not only in what we build today, but in what endures for generations.”
In 1970, he was issuing tickets. Fifty-six years later, he is still in the travel business, looking at the people who will take it into its next chapter.
The Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) is stepping up efforts to strengthen the capacity and business opportunities of travel agents at the Coast through a series of engagements focused on technology, airline partnerships and industry collaboration.
The engagements brought together KATA and key industry partners including Triply, Safarilink and Amadeus, with discussions centred on training travel agents on technology platforms, strengthening commercial relationships and creating opportunities for business development.
A key component of the engagement was training Coast-based travel agents on the Triply platform, aimed at helping them better understand and utilise digital tools to support their day-to-day operations and improve the services they provide to travellers.
The training forms part of the broader industry shift towards technology-enabled travel distribution, as agencies increasingly rely on digital platforms to access travel products, manage bookings and improve efficiency.
Building capacity at the Coast
For KATA, the engagements are also part of a wider capacity-building agenda aimed at ensuring that travel agents outside Nairobi have access to the same industry knowledge, tools and commercial opportunities.
The Coast remains one of Kenya’s key tourism and travel markets, supported by its strong leisure, inbound and outbound travel activity. Strengthening the capabilities of agencies operating in the region is therefore important to the growth and competitiveness of the wider travel trade.
Through direct engagement with agents, KATA seeks to understand the challenges facing businesses on the Coast while connecting members with suppliers and technology providers to support their growth.
Strengthening airline-agent relationships
The engagement with Safarilink provided an opportunity to further strengthen relationships between the airline and travel-agent community.
Discussions focused on areas of mutual interest, including business development and strengthening collaboration between airlines and agents.
Closer engagement between travel agents and airlines enables agents to better understand available products and services while giving suppliers an opportunity to receive direct market feedback from the agencies selling their products to travellers.
For Coast-based agents in particular, access to reliable domestic and regional air connectivity remains an important component of their ability to serve both leisure and corporate travellers.
Technology as a business enabler
The Amadeus engagement and workshop further reinforced the importance of technology and digital solutions in the travel agency business.
As the industry continues to evolve, travel agents are increasingly expected to work with technology that enables them to access inventory, manage bookings efficiently and provide faster and more informed service to customers.
Training and practical exposure to these platforms can therefore play an important role in helping agencies improve productivity and remain competitive in an increasingly digital travel environment.
Partnerships beyond the traditional model
The engagements reflect KATA’s broader approach to industry partnerships — moving beyond traditional stakeholder relationships towards practical collaboration that delivers value to travel agents.
For suppliers and technology companies, engagement with agents provides an opportunity to demonstrate products directly to the businesses that interact with travellers every day.
For travel agents, such engagements provide access to information, training, commercial conversations and opportunities to build stronger relationships with industry partners.
KATA’s continued engagement with Triply, Safarilink and Amadeus therefore comes at a time when the travel industry is undergoing rapid changes in technology, distribution and consumer behaviour.
The Association is expected to continue facilitating similar engagements as part of its efforts to strengthen professional capacity, promote business development and ensure its members remain connected to evolving opportunities across the travel ecosystem.
Flight operations at Kenya’s main airports were disrupted on Sunday after aviation workers resumed industrial action, leaving passengers facing lengthy delays and uncertainty over departures.
The disruption was most pronounced at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, Kenya’s main international gateway, where passengers reported extended waiting times as airlines struggled with operational delays.
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) confirmed that some departing flights at its airports were experiencing delays and advised passengers to contact their respective airlines for the latest information on their flight status.
KAA said it was working with aviation agencies, airlines and other stakeholders to manage the situation and minimise disruption to airport operations. The authority did not initially provide details on the cause of the delays in its passenger advisory.
The disruption came as members of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) downed their tools at the Kenya Airports Authority, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and Jambojet.
KAWU Secretary-General Moss Ndiema confirmed the strike, saying workers would remain on strike until their grievances were addressed. The union has cited unresolved issues including collective bargaining agreements, remuneration, employment contracts, job security and career progression.
Kenya Airways reports delays of more than three hours
The disruption has directly affected airline schedules at JKIA.
Kenya Airways issued a customer update on Sunday warning passengers of delays of between two and three hours on departures from JKIA, attributing the disruption to ongoing air traffic control challenges.
In a subsequent update, the national carrier reported that only 30 per cent of its scheduled flights had departed by 2:00 p.m. East Africa Time. Flights that had departed were operating with an average delay of two to three hours, while some subsequent departures were experiencing delays of more than three hours.
The airline said it was continuing to monitor the situation and work with relevant stakeholders as efforts continued to manage the disruption.
The distinction between the causes cited by the different stakeholders is significant. While KQ has referred to air traffic control challenges affecting its operations, KAWU has publicly linked the disruption to the workers’ industrial action, while KAA has described the immediate situation as delays affecting some departing flights.
Jambojet operations also affected
Jambojet, which is among the employers targeted by the industrial action, has also been affected by the disruption.
The airline operates a substantial domestic network from Nairobi, meaning delays at JKIA have the potential to affect both domestic passengers and travellers connecting to international services.
The current disruption follows a previous aviation labour dispute that was temporarily resolved after government intervention and negotiations with the union. The latest strike therefore represents a renewed escalation of longstanding disagreements between the union, aviation agencies and affected employers.
Passengers left waiting for updates
At JKIA, passengers have faced prolonged waits as airlines work through delayed schedules.
The disruption is particularly significant for passengers travelling on international itineraries, where a delay on the first sector can result in missed connections, onward travel complications and additional accommodation or rebooking requirements.
KAA has urged passengers to contact their airlines directly before travelling to the airport and to plan their journeys accordingly. The authority said it would issue further updates as the situation develops.
Airlines and travel agents are consequently dealing with passengers seeking information on revised departure times, missed connections and possible rebooking options.
Stakeholders seek to contain disruption
The latest developments have placed Kenya’s aviation stakeholders under pressure to restore normal operations while negotiations over the workers’ grievances continue.
KAA says it is coordinating with aviation agencies, airlines and other stakeholders to minimise the impact on passengers and keep airport operations moving.
KAWU, meanwhile, maintains that the industrial action will continue until its outstanding concerns are addressed. The union’s grievances include claims relating to salary structures, implementation of collective bargaining agreements, prolonged contracts and career progression.
For now, there is no indication of a complete shutdown of Kenya’s airports. Flights continue to operate, but schedules remain significantly affected, particularly at JKIA.
Passengers are being advised to verify their flight status directly with their airline before heading to the airport and to allow for substantially longer travel times.
The situation remains fluid, with airlines, airport authorities, aviation agencies and the workers’ union expected to provide further updates as negotiations and operational efforts continue.
