First Israeli flight flies through Saudi airspace to non-Gulf nation
First Israeli flight flies through Saudi airspace to non-Gulf nation
This is the first time an Israeli airline has flown over Saudi Arabia to a destination outside the Gulf region.
2 min read
An Arkia airlines flight flew over Saudi Arabia to the Seychelles on Tuesday [Getty]
An Israeli commercial flight flew over Saudi Arabia to a non-Gulf destination for the first time on Tuesday, according to Israeli media.
The Arkia Israeli Airlines flight IZ611 departed Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport at around 1:15 am on Tuesday to the Seychelles, an island nation off the coast of East Africa.
An Arkia Airlines, the first-ever Israeli commercial flight over Saudi airspace, to a non-Gulf destination departed after midnight on Tuesday, with the new route shortening the duration of the flight by 20 minutes https://t.co/HxQZDiNsP6
— Andreas Harsono (@andreasharsono) August 23, 2022
This is the first time an Israeli flight has flown over Saudi Arabia to a non-Gulf destination, and it shortened the duration of the flight by 20 minutes.
“Tonight, an Arkia plane will become the first Israeli licensed plane to fly over Saudi Arabia — not to Dubai, but to the Seychelles," said Arkia’s chief pilot Din Gal ahead of the flight, reported The Times of Israel.
Israeli officials hope the opening of Saudi airspace will be followed by a similar move from Oman, which will allow for much shorter flights from Israel to eastern destinations such as India or Thailand.
Since the 2020 Abraham Accords where several Arab countries normalised relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia allowed Israeli airlines to use its airspace for flights to the UAE and Bahrain.
The deal allowing Israeli flights to use Saudi airspace was struck last month during US President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East, who helped broker the transfer of two Red Sea islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.
The deal has been widely seen as a precursor to the Kingdom fully normalising relations with Israel, although Riyadh has denied this explanation.
Palestinians see the Abraham Accords as a betrayal of their cause, pointing out that Arab states have rewarded Israel as it continues to occupy the West Bank and besiege the Gaza Strip while regularly violating Palestinian human rights.
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