Israel's national airline – El Al – has canceled all its flights as a pilot labor dispute and the ongoing global economic hardships continue to bite.
"El Al CEO Gonen Usishkin has ordered that all aircraft should return to Israel, including those on cargo flights. El Al has stopped flying. The company has canceled two passenger flights and four cargo flights scheduled for today," according to a report in Globes.
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The decision to cancel flights after negotiations between Pilots Committee Chairman Nir Reuveni and Usishkin ended without resolution on Tuesday evening.
Reuveni reportedly said that El Al was not upholding agreements that it came to with the pilot's union about a month ago and that the airline's management was unwilling to help the company deal with the ongoing crisis.
The economic downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic has hit airlines particularly hard and El Al is no exception. A company statement released Tuesday highlighted that the airline has hemorrhaged $140 million in the first quarter of 2020.
El Al has sought a $400 million government bailout and has been pursuing it on parallel tracks – the first receiving the entire sum as a loan mostly backed by a state guarantee, or a state-guaranteed loan of $250 million and an equity offering of $150 million, also with state backing.
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This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
