In world first, Air India crosses Saudi airspace to Israel

JERUSALEM: Air India launched on Thursday the first scheduled service to Israel to be allowed to cross Saudi airspace.

The inaugural flight took off from New Delhi at 1230 GMT and was to land in Tel Aviv at 1945 GMT, the Indian state carrier says. “We will be flying non-stop from New Delhi to Tel Aviv from March 22 over Saudi airspace,” Air India spokesman Praveen Bhatnagar told AFP. There will now be three flights weekly in each direction, ending a decades-long Saudi ban on the use of its airspace for commercial flights to Israel. Israel’s national carrier El Al currently operates an India service to Mumbai that takes a detour over the Red Sea to avoid flying over Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia and Israel have no official diplomatic relations, like much of the Arab world. Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries with peace treaties with Israel. The flight approval comes after Israeli PM Netanyahu described relations with the Arab world as the “best ever”.