Strike Delays Flights In and Out of Israel’s Airport

As if airplane travel isn’t hard enough, flights in and out of Israel were delayed for hours on Thursday at Ben-Gurion International Airport when aviation workers began a strike, during which baggage handling and service to planes was interrupted. Workers also were expected to strike later in the day at Ramon Airport in Eilat in the south of the country and at Rosh Pina Airport in the country’s north. The workers went on strike to protest the Israel Aviation Authority’s decision to cut 350 permanent jobs following the drop in flights due to the coronavirus pandemic. Over 25,000 people were set to travel in and out of Ben Gurion on Thursday, according to reports. The strike was halted on Thursday afternoon after intervention by a labor court, with workers agreeing to return to work and to participate in negotiations over the next 12 days. The strike on Thursday comes on the heels of a two-hour strike at the airport a week ago, and after workers on Tuesday demonstrated on the runway of the airport, slightly delaying the takeoff of a plane carrying Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to his meetings in Washington, DC.