Israel working on direct flights to Dubai over Saudi Arabia

PM Netanyahu said Israel is working to establish direct flights between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, which would fly over Saudi Arabia’s territory.

Following Thursday announcement by Israel and the United Arab Emirates on the signed agreement to establish full diplomatic relations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added today (Monday) “We are currently working on direct flights over Saudi Arabia between Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, it would be a short flight of three hours.”

Netanyahu made the remark during a tour with Transportation Minister Miri Regev, at Ben Gurion Airport, ahead of the partial reopening of air traffic.

Although Saudi Arabia does not officially recognize Israel and its air space is closed to Israeli airliners, in 2018 Riyadh allowed Air India to fly over Saudi territory on the New Delhi-Tel Aviv route.

Netanyahu estimates that Israel will reach an agreement that will allow direct flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai. This will open the entire Israeli tourism and opens up the east and all of the connecting routes for Israeli air travel.

According to PM, the open sky will lead to also investments, “on a magnitude the likes of which we have not seen”, he said. “The Emiratis are very interested in massive investments in Israel in technology, in importing inexpensive products. There is a free trade zone there, one of the largest and most efficient in the world. This will be very beneficial to the Israeli consumer.

Israeli carrier Israir has already submitted an official request to fly to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital.