Hundreds of passengers on four El Al flights scheduled to leave from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv tonight were left in limbo when airline staff members simply didn’t show up.
El Al pilots launched surprise labor sanctions, throwing the airline’s flight schedule out of whack in protest of the impasse in negotiations over a new labor arrangement.
A number of flights were delayed, while others were canceled.
Some flights were merged and flown by Jumbo 747s. Some flights were flown by Israir Airlines.
The pilots called in sick shortly before they were scheduled to fly; pilots have been known to take such action during labor disputes.
El Al said in a statement that “due to the unavailability of air staff, disruptions began today in the El Al schedule…Lately, El Al has had to deal with disruptions in schedules and positioning of planes, due to the unavailability of pilots and their lack of responsiveness toward inquiries from the company about implementing the flights. El Al apologizes to affected customers and is working to bring passengers to their destinations as soon as possible.”
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
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