Striking Kenya Airways pilots return to work

Kenya Airways pilots returned to work on Wednesday, after a court ordered them to end their strike which had led to hundreds of flight cancellations and stranded thousands of passengers.

Back in business: the strike of pilots at Kenya Airways is over. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

The strike, which began on Saturday, added to the woes facing the heavily indebted national carrier.

"The strike is off, we are back to work," a spokesperson for the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) told the AFP news agency on Wednesday, hours after a Nairobi court ordered the union to end the walkout.

Kenya Airways' latest online update says most flights had resumed on Wednesday, and it said on Twitter it should be operating normally by 12 November.

Officials at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport said the airline was still struggling to clear the backlog from earlier flight cancellations.

"We have had several flights take off on schedule today after the pilots resumed work," an official at the Kenya Airports Authority explained.

"Things are getting back to normal," he said.

The dispute has added to the challenges facing Kenya's recently elected President William Ruto, who has inherited a country already battling a cost-of-living crisis and an unprecedented drought.