El Al flights resume
El Al has called off a strike which grounded the airline after Israel’s finance ministry agreed to increase its share of the airline’s security costs to enable it to compete with foreign carriers.
Staff went on strike on Sunday, supported by the labour union Histadrut, in protest against a new open skies agreement which they claim will harm Israel’s aviation industry.
On Sunday the Tourism Ministry said the open skies agreement would result in an increase of 250,000 tourists from Europe during the first year of its operation.
However, Israel’s airlines were afraid that allowing more European airlines to fly to the country would threaten their business.
Staff opted to return to work after the Finance Ministry offered to increase its share of El Al’s security costs from 70% to 97.5%.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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