El Al forced to make more cancellations as pilots keep up pressure
Monday night flights to and from Bangkok affected, amid warnings of further disruptions in protests over working conditions
Israel’s national carrier El Al was forced to cancel several international flights again on Monday, after pilots refused to show up amid an ongoing labor dispute over working conditions.
Flights to and from Bangkok were cancelled and other flights will be operated by alternate airlines.
Monday night’s flight LY081 to Bangkok and the return flight LY082, scheduled for departure early Tuesday morning, were cancelled. In addition, flights to and from Toronto next week will be operated on an Airbus 330-200 leased from the Portuguese airline Hi Fly.
Last week, the airline was forced to cancel four flights in and out of Ben Gurion International Airport due to the dispute.
El Al CEO David Maimon was to meet with the head of El Al pilots’ union, Nir Zook, at the initiative of Histadrut labor federation leader Avi Nissenkorn on Monday night, in an attempt to resolve the weeks-old crisis.
The airline has accused the pilots of making impossible demands.
“Sanctions by pilots have disrupted the company for many months,” the airline management said. “The pilots refuse to fly return journeys like active pilots and are demanding that they only have to fly in one direction.”
The pilots’ union criticized the airline management and accused its leaders of making decisions that were harmful to the company’s employees.
Earlier on Monday, some 1,000 El Al workers took part in an emergency protest outside the company’s management building, over the expected dismissal of hundreds of employees in the coming year.
A spokeswoman for the workers, Ayelet Kedar, told the crowd: “The management needs to sell tickets, and not [sell out] the workers. We will not agree to be invisible.”
In a recent statement on their website, El Al apologized for the disruptions and placed the blame on the pilots. “In the last several days many of you have experienced difficulties with some of our flights. We sincerely apologize from the bottom of our hearts.
“The disagreements with the company’s pilots have resulted in sanctions that have a negative impact on our passengers in order to put pressure on the company, its management and employees.
“We are making every necessary effort in order to resolve this matter so that we return to flying you to every destination on-time, with complete devotion and with the highest levels of safety.”