CAIRO - Air traffic controllers have called off their go-slow strike after two days of chaos, Hassan Rashed, the Chairman of EgyptAir Holding Company, was quoted as saying by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) Thursday. Rashed explained that a meeting will be held Saturday with air traffic controllers to see what could be done about their bonus demands. Earlier, Egypt's international gateway, Cairo International Airport, was paralysed as traffic controllers launched a go-slow strike on Wednesday night, airport officials said. "We have started a go-slow strike, increasing the time for takeoff and landing at the airport until officials shelve a decision to scrap bonuses worth LE3,000 [about $500]," a traffic controller told MENA on condition of anonymity. Officials at the airport said 50 international and internal flights had been delayed due to the strike. "We expect the situation to worsen as passengers are highly likely to protest. We hope the matter gets sorted out as soon as possible," the official stressed, adding some airline companies will have to call off their flights if the problem persists. Controllers delayed clearances for landings and takeoffs, causing chaos among passengers in Terminal 1 and Terminal 3. On Wednesday night, Minister of Civil Aviation Lotfi Kamal went to the airport, used by an estimated 16 million people last year, to try to negotiate an end to the protest, but to no avail. Only 20 of the 100 planes that had been due to take off in the previous 10 hours had left, according to Reuters. The country's national carrier EgyptAir saw 80 of its flights cancelled. Local media said the go-slow was called after a pay increase for Cairo's 700 air traffic controllers was cancelled when other staff protested at the pay rise.
