Borg al-Arab International Airport in Alexandria reopened Sunday after police strikes forced it to shut down.
Magdy Shaklol, head of a civil aviation association in Alexandria, said negotiations with striking police officers succeeded, and the airport reopened. He told state news agency MENA that flight traffic is returning to normal, and said a flight from Beirut would arrive in half an hour.
Major General Hany Uqab, head of the airport, had said earlier that traffic was diverted to Cairo International Airport, and port police closed all runways to voice their demands for higher wages and means of transport to and from the airport.
Flights from Qatar Airways, Nas Air and Sharjah's Air Arabia were delayed because of the strike, Reuters said, quoting state news agency MENA.
Uqab added that Major General Mohamed Wahba, an Interior Ministry official, met with the strikers in an attempt to end it. But the officers stuck with their demands.
Uqab criticized the strike and called it “irresponsible,” saying it caused congestion inside the airport due to the flight delays.
The Civil Aviation Authority issued an announcement to all airports with flights landing or taking off from Borg al-Arab that the airport would be closed until further notice due to the strike.
Cairo International Airport customs officers have also threatened to strike over what they say is their management’s ignoring their financial demands in respect to departure fees, which were halted in 2003. They protested Thursday to voice these demands.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
