Indian airliner makes history by flying to Israel via Saudi
BEN GURION AIRPORT (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel with the inauguration on Thursday of an Air India route between New Delhi and Tel Aviv.
Air India 139 landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport after a flight of over 7 1/2 hours, 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," Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said in a radio interview, adding that using Saudi airspace cut travel time to India by around two hours and would reduce ticket prices.
Meanwhile, Levin said that Singapore Airlines and a Filipino airline were exploring the introduction of flights to and from Tel Aviv that would pass through Saudi airspace.
The minister, Yariv Levin, spoke after Air India launched its first flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv on a route scheduled to take the plane over Saudi Arabia, a country that does not recognize Israel.
Granting overflight rights to Air India ended a 70-year blanket Saudi airspace ban on routes to and from Israel, but did not appear to herald any immediate change in policy towards Israeli airlines.
Asked on Israel's Army Radio if any other foreign airlines might follow Air India by opening similar routes, Levin said he has 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, and I don't know if they will also receive permission like the Indian airline," he said.
Saudi Arabia – birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines – does not recognize Israel.
Riyadh has not formally confirmed granting the Air India plane overflight rights. While the move ended a 70-yearold ban on planes flying to or from Israel through Saudi airspace, there is as yet no indication that it will be applied for any Israeli airline.
The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner entered Saudi airspace at around 1645 GMT and overflew the kingdom at 40,000 feet for about three hours, coming within 60 km (37 miles) of the capital Riyadh, according to the Flightradar monitoring app. It then crossed over Jordan and the occupied West Bank into Israel.