Israel-UAE flights ‘delayed to January’
Air link announced after the two states signed a deal at the White House aims to open up tourism, business
There were supposed to be direct flights in October, then Israel went into shutdown. Now, when I speak to officials here and there, we’re looking at the first of January
HASSAN-NAHOUM
Dubai, UAE - Direct flights between Israel and the UAE, slated to begin in October after a landmark normalisation deal, are to be postponed until January because of coronavirus, an Israeli official said on Tuesday.
The air link announced after the two states signed the deal at the White House last month aims to open up tourism and new business ventures despite the COVID-19 slowdown.
But a second lockdown in Israel, which now has one of the world’s highest infection rates per capita, has put plans on hold, denting hopes for quick gains.
“I feel with the COVID that we’re kind of running with our hands behind our backs,” Jerusalem’s deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum told AFP during a visit to Dubai.
“There were supposed to be direct flights in October, then Israel went into shutdown. Now, when I speak to officials here and there, we’re looking at the first of January,” said Hassan-Nahoum, who is also co-founder of the UAE-Israel Business Council.
Dubai-based carrier Emirates plans to produce kosher meals in keeping with Jewish dietary rules, with a dedicated production facility expected to be operating from its UAE premises by January. Despite the delay, Hassan-Nahoum said the tourism sector will be among the first to benefit from the normalisation agreement.
On Monday, UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan tweeted saying that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘have spoken by phone to build on’ their countries’ normalisation accord.
In the call initiated by Netanyahu, the two leaders agreed the deal signed at the White House on September 15 ‘opens the way to a new era of cooperation’, he wrote.
They also discussed joint efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Netanyahu, for his part, told the Israeli Cabinet that he had spoken at the weekend with his ‘friend’ Sheikh Mohammed, who is crown prince of Abu Dhabi and effective ruler.
“I invited him to visit Israel, he invited me to visit Abu Dhabi, but before that we'll see here a delegation from the UAE, and another delegation of ours will go there,” the Prime Minister said.
The normalisation deals with both the UAE and Bahrain ‘reflect the dramatic change in Israel’s regional standing’, he said.