Egyptian employees of Israel's El Al Airlines office at Cairo International Airport protested Thursday against an austerity plan they say will bring layoffs and salary cuts. The 21 employees stopped working to stage a sit-in in the airport's departure hall. They refused to carry out boarding procedures for passengers of flight number 444 to Tel Aviv, saying the company is seeking to downsize its staff in Cairo within the framework of an austerity plan to cope with financial losses, according to an official source at the airport. The source said the head of the company's office in Cairo convinced the employees to return to work, promising to resolve their problems. The staff then completed boarding procedures for the 34 passengers and the flight took off 15 minutes late. El Al operates two flights a week between Cairo and Tel Aviv, sometimes canceling them when there are not enough passengers. The airline's office in Cairo is facing economic losses as the number of passengers has declined following Egypt's revolution. Translated from the Arabic Edition
