Air traffic controllers in Kenya: Going slow

LEAW
LEAW
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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Going by past experience with air traffic controllers in Nairobi, the go slow yesterday morning may see several planes held on the taxiway for extended periods of time.

Going by past experience with air traffic controllers in Nairobi, the go slow yesterday morning may see several planes held on the taxiway for extended periods of time.

Of course burning unnecessary fuel and delaying passengersโ€™ arrival at their destinations are only a precursor to a more illegal strike action ahead and over the festive season.

Air Traffic Control (ATC) personnel in Nairobi have in the past effectively used such high-density travel periods to press for their demands for higher pay, higher allowances, and more to be met by government and a regular aviation source.

When passing the details yesterday, they had this to say: “First, causing so much fuel to burn on the taxiway is an environmental transgression of the highest order. They could have just told the planes to sit on their parking positions and not turn on engines to have the same result before then speedily processing them to taxi out and take off. It shows that the brains behind this action are quite empty that they do not take into account the extra CO2 emissions as if there is no issue with global warming and all.

โ€œThat said, they will probably crank this up in the coming days as more and more people are getting ready to travel from Nairobi by air to Kisumu, Eldoret, Malindi, and Mombasa or into the wider region.

โ€œGovernment should, therefore, prepare to have military traffic controllers stand by and step in should it happen on a larger scale. We in Kenya have enough issues already to cope with when it comes to travel and tourism, and we do not need that extra headache by the ATC guys to make it worse. If travelers get the feeling that their holiday upcountry or at the coast gets messed up big time, they may just cancel, and it will be ATC responsible for the economic fallout and consequence.โ€

True enough, hoteliers in Mombasa have already expressed their own worries that should a go-slow or outright wildcat strike take place and air traffic gets disrupted, that it may spoil their festive season to a point where far less than expected people will come to spend the holidays at the beach resorts for fear of being delayed for perhaps hours at end. The last time air traffic controllers pulled these stunts was about two years ago when extensive air traffic disruptions were experiences for aircraft taking off and landing at Kenyan airports.

Official government sources predictably denied any knowledge of the situation, causing more negative comments to fly their way, too.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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