After a day's respite in the struggle at El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL), the carrier announced this evening that, "Due to sanctions by pilots and their unpreparedness to man planes, flights 075 to Hong Kong and 095 to Beijing have been canceled, while flights 027 and 001 to New York will fly in leased aircraft. Departure of flight 029 to Toronto has been postponed by eight and a half hours."
Earlier this week, El Al management and the pilot's workers committee met in the office of Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Avi Nissenkorn to try and settle the dispute. After a marathon eleven hour meeting, the sides reported progress but after this evening's announcement by El Al, this is clearly not being reflected on the ground, despite contradictory reports about a memorandum of understanding being agreed.
The pilot's workers committee said, 'Management is reneging on agreements reached and is currently raising further demands. After the financial results were published, details were leaked that were not actually signed, probably to renew tensions between employees."
El Al management said, "Information circulated by the pilot's committee is false and it's a shame that information is leaked solely with the intention of putting pressure on the company."
Meanwhile, German national carrier Lufthansa has announced that eight flights between Israel and Germany have been cancelled tomorrow and on Friday. The company says that passengers can either cancel their orders and receive a refund or fly instead on one of its partner airlines - Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 23, 2016
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