Israeli representatives conferred with Italian officials In Rome today following the announcement by Alitalia, the government-owned Italian national airline, that it would not participate in the boycott of Algeria called by the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations. Spokesmen for the Italian airline Indicated that they still had hopes for some sort of settlement with Algeria over the hijacked El Al airliner and its crew without having to apply the boycott weapon. Other sources said that Alitalia was probably acting out of commercial interests. A representative of the company went to Algiers today. Alitalia operates two flights a week to Algeria and is one of the three principal foreign airlines serving that country.
However, it is Air France, with 32 flights a week that handles 90 percent of Algeria’s foreign air traffic. Adherence to the boycott by French pilots therefore is considered to be of the greatest importance.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.