BICOM

Employees of Israel’s three air carriers entered the second day of a strike this morning, in protest over the cabinet’s approval yesterday of an aviation agreement which they believe will prove a significant financial blow to Israel’s airlines.

Employees of Israel’s three air carriers, El Al, Israir and Arkia, halted their outgoing flights at 5am yesterday. Labour Federation chief Ofer Eini later announced that airport workers will embark on solidarity strikes of several hours from Tuesday morning, bringing all air traffic to a standstill.

Eini’s announcement came after just three cabinet members voted against the ‘Open Skies’ agreement with the European Union, when it was brought to vote. The deal was signed last July after three years of negotiations and will essentially reduce barriers for outside airlines to operate in Israel. While this is likely to lower the cost of travel for Israelis and attract increased tourism, Israel’s airlines believe that the deal will squeeze them out of the market. They argue that Israeli airlines have an unfair disadvantage as they spend far more on security costs than foreign competitors and must fully refund cancelled tickets unlike foreign airlines. An El Al statement said, “The agreement is tailored to fit the giant companies and aviation unions from Europe.”

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the ‘Open Skies’ agreement saying “The goal of the reform that we approved today is to lower the prices of flights to and from Israel and to increase incoming tourism.” Finance Minister Yair Lapid commented, “It will lead to lower prices and increased competition, and won’t harm the number of jobs in the economy, but quite the opposite” while Transport Minister Yisrael Katz called it “the first decision by the new government aimed at bringing down the cost of living in Israel.”