The Israeli government is warning that failure to complete the privatisation of flag carrier El Al will result in receivership.
Avigdor Liberman, the Israeli minister of transport, says if privatisation is not complete by the end of May, the result will be receivership because "the state should not own an airline".
Israel recently decided to privatise the airline based on its 2002 financial results. The plan is to initially sell 49% of the shares.
One of the main obstacles to the sell-off has been the opposition of religious parties in allowing El Al to operate on the Jewish sabbath. Another problem is that around $100 million has been removed from the employees compensation fund, which the union is demanding is reimbursed before it co-operates with privatisation.
Source: Flight International