Shortly before the agreement was to have been signed, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz instructed his office not to go ahead and sign on the Open Skies deregulation program that would have given European airlines a bigger piece of the air travel pie.

Shortly before the agreement was to have been signed the Histadrut national labor federation declared a ‘work dispute’ that cleared the way for a strike in 14 days, a strike that would have impacted El Al, Arkia and Israir Airlines.

The labor federation stated there are 7,000 employees of the airlines in addition to 25,000 support company employees, and signing the plan would place many of those jobs at risk, thousands of workers. One of the union’s main points of contention was the planned elimination of on board duty free sales, which the union insists would deliver a serious fiscal blow to airlines.

The signing of the agreement would have brought additional competition and lower fares, but for now, the signing of the deal with European Union nations is on hold to permit Katz’s ministry to “evaluate” the ramifications of the deal for local airlines.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)