The airline on the shelf: The Nakash brothers, the controlling owners of Arkia, are in very advanced talks to sell the company, and according to sources in the group, the deal is expected to close in the coming days.
According to a report on the i24 channel, the company is indeed holding talks with several market players, but the most mature contacts are with Ezra Unger – a 36-year-old Hasidic Jew, a real estate developer, who lives in Brooklyn. Unger, who grew up in Monsey, settled in Jerusalem after his marriage.
The significance of Unger's acquisition of the company: a complete cessation of all Arkia flights on Sabbaths and Israeli holidays.
Those opposing the deal are Arkia employees - who hold a 22.51% stake in the company through the workers' union, who are holding urgent consultations to prepare to take steps against the move and prevent the sale.
Avi Edri, chairman of Arkia's workers' committee, told the i24 channel: "We already met with the investor a month ago. We made it clear to him in no uncertain terms that we would not allow Arkia to close on Shabbat. In response, he told us at the time: 'If you don't accept me willingly, I won't come.' And now, this is happening behind our backs. You simply cannot come to an active airline with a declared agenda of closing the company on Shabbat - and he made this clear to us in the clearest possible way.".
