Flight to Israel crosses Saudi airspace for the first time

SAUDI ARABIA has opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel, ending a 70-year ban on planes flying to or from Israel over the country.

Air India 139 from New Dehli landed at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, after a seven-and-a-half-hour flight on Thursday, marking a diplomatic shift for Riyadh that Israel says was fuelled by shared concern over Iranian influence in the region.

“This is a really historic day that follows two years of very, very intensive work,” Yariv Levin, the Israeli tourism minister, said in a radio interview.

Saudi Arabia does not recognise Israel as a state and, despite thawing relations between the nations, Riyadh has not formally confirmed granting the plane overflight rights.

The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner overflew the kingdom at 40,000ft for about three hours, coming within 37 miles of the capital Riyadh, according to the Flightradar monitoring app. It then crossed Jordan and the West Bank before landing in Israel.

The airliner had earlier flown over Oman, according to Flightradar.

Officials from Oman, which also does not recognise Israel, could not be reached for comment.

Israel’s flag carrier El Al, which is ex- cluded from the Saudi route, said its Indian competitor now had an unfair advantage. It will take its fight for access to Saudi airspace to the supreme court in Israel, officials said yesterday.

Asked if any other airlines might follow Air India by opening routes to Tel Aviv over Saudi Arabia, Mr Levin said he had been in negotiations with Singapore Airlines and a carrier from the Philippines, which he did not name.

“They are certainly showing readiness and desire to fly to Israel,” he said.

Singapore Airlines did not reply to a request for comment.

Saudi officials could not immediately be reached.

‘This is a really historic day that follows two years of very, very intensive work’