Following a shift in demand post-pandemic, Israel’s El Al has announced it will be cutting flights from its Tel Aviv base to several destinations, including Toronto Pearson International Airport, in late October. Two medium-haul destinations, Warsaw and Brussels, have also been dropped.

A spokesperson for the airline reportedly confirmed the decision, noting the pandemic’s impact across its network.

“Since the exit from the Covid crisis there have been changes in expected demand for flights to and from Israel,” the airline told the Israeli newspaper Globes. “This has forced us to make changes in schedules and destinations of flights, in order to provide our customers with the appropriate destinations, for new demand and destinations.”

El Al had refused to give any on-the-record interviews or comments regarding the staff shortages.

However, The Canadian Jewish News reported that “Internal labour troubles at El Al combined with staffing shortages—when the company carried out mass layoffs during the pandemic—have forced the privately-owned airline to abruptly cancel dozens of flights to Europe from Tel Aviv this past week.”

News of El Al’s decision was confirmed on June 21 by the Canadian general manager, Dinah Kutner, who said the airline was leaving it up to local staff to inform travel agents and the community.

“It’s encouraging to see the reaction in the community,” Kutner said Thursday, in response to Jewish leaders and El Al fans who began an online petition on Change.org launched by a Toronto insurance agent Asaf Halperin. By late Sunday the petition had 4,282 signatures.

“It’s very important to me that El Al is still part of our community,” Halperin, 49, told the CJN

El Al’s Canadian manager said they have not completely given up their landing rights at Toronto’s international airport, just suspended them indefinitely.

The carrier has struggled to meet post-pandemic demand, with frequent flights seeing last-minute cancellations over the past few weeks. In May, the airline noted it was in negotiations with its Pilots’ union over employee shortages and lowered staff wages, though a resolution has yet to be found.

“The company hopes this intensive dialogue will lead to agreements between the parties for the benefit of the company’s employees and customers and calls on the pilots’ union to engage with a sincere and genuine desire to achieve these goals,” said the airline in a statement to The Times of Israel last week. Talks are expected to continue.

The decision to close El Al’s Toronto route has drawn widespread criticism from Canada’s Jewish community over the reduced connection between the two countries. Air Canada will become the only direct air link between Toronto and Tel Aviv from the end of October.

Director of Canadian Tourism at Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, Gal Hana, has also warned of its impact on the country’s tourism market. Around 100,000 Canadians visited Israel in 2019, with plans to increase figures by 10% post-pandemic, something to likely be “compromised” by the closure of the route, Hana told The Canadian Jewish News.

Earlier this month, El Al increased its US schedule added a third weekly connection to Boston Logan International Airport.