El Al has suspended its flights "until further notice".

All flights between Britain and Israel have been cancelled.

The disruption follows a decision by workers at El Al, Arkia, and Israir airlines to begin an "open-ended" strike yesterday, with the Histadrut labour union supporting them.

Israeli airline employees demonstrated outside the home of Finance Minister Yair Lapid today.

El al is to triple the number of flights it runs to Luton airport.

From March the airline, Israel's national carrier, will be operating six weekly flights - up from just two a week - to the airport, which is just north of London.

That number will rise by another five in June, meaning that by the summer 22 flights will operate from Tel Aviv into London and the surrounding area every week.

An El Al flight en route from Tel Aviv to New York made an emergency landing in Ireland after passengers said they had smelled something burning.

The 747 Boeing aircraft, carrying more than 300 passengers and crew members, was forced to land at Shannon Airport on Monday.

The chief executive of Israel's national airline has reportedly threatened to stop offering flights to Cairo.
Eliezer Shkedi, who runs El Al, wrote in a letter to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that he was considering pulling the route between Israel and its southern neighbour.