Israeli airlines meet to discuss open-skies agreement with the EU

The CEOs of Israel’s three airlines – El Al, Arkia and Israir – are meeting with the head of the Civil Aviation Authority today to try and discourage the state from signing an open-skies agreement with the European Union (EU). The Israeli airlines claim that EU representatives prepared a draft agreement which states that Israel and the EU have agreed on issues that the local airlines still have objections over, including flight volume and time slots. The document, written in past tense, states that talks finish on March 22 and that the representatives have agreed on the deal. The final