Kenya Airways PLC said it was experiencing disruptions to its flight schedule after its pilot union began a strike on Saturday, despite the government urging them to call it off.

The strike, which was due to start at 6.00 am local time (0300 GMT), will affect thousands of business and leisure travellers at one of the most important aviation hubs in the African continent.

A stranded passenger at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, who identified himself as Lawrence, said he had arrived at 5 a.m. local time to take a flight to Johannesburg in South Africa but “unfortunately they’ve just told me that it’s cancelled due to the strike”.

The pilots union had said earlier it would call a strike over a dispute on pensions contributions and settlement of deferred pay for its members after a 14-day notice had passed without the airline’s management addressing their grievances.

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The airline had described the planned strike as unlawful and warned that it could jeopardise its recovery from the pandemic, and the airline could at a minimum lose 300 million shillings ($2.5 million) a day.

In last-minute talks to avert a strike, Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen had issued a plea to the pilots union not to go ahead with the industrial action.