Arrivals at Ben Gurion halt amid work stoppage; check-in suspended; labor union denies ordering strike

The Israel Airports Authority confirms halting arrivals at Ben Gurion Airport as of 2 p.m. and says departures “will leave gradually according to an updated schedule,” after a surprise work stoppage on the biggest travel day of the year. Check-in is also temporarily halted.

Passengers are requested to stay abreast of the changing schedule, the IAA says, adding: “We regret the conduct of the workers’ union and apologize to the passengers.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who traveled to Morocco yesterday for a seven-day trip with top ministry officials, says in a statement that she has instructed the IAA to immediately petition the Labor Court against the workers’ union “to force them to stop the illegal, bullying strike.”

“Anyone who decides to take tens of thousands of Israeli citizens hostage will pay a heavy price,” she says.

Meanwhile, the transportation division of the Histadrut, the umbrella labor federation, denies issuing a directive for a work stoppage at Ben Gurion.

“The attempt to present the chaos at Ben Gurion Airport as the result of a ‘surprise strike’ misses the truth and diverts attention from the real failure: the grave personnel crisis and lack of sufficient preparation for the summer,” the transportation division says in a statement via the Histadrut.

“The writing was on the wall, warnings went unheeded and now the public is paying the price,” the statement says. “Ben Gurion Airport workers are doing their utmost to keep the system running, but you can’t make a national airport run on the unending burnout of its workers.”