History was made this week when the first official flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) landed in Abu Dhabi on Monday, following a normalisation agreement between the two countries.
The Israeli El Al airliner made the three-hour trip, carrying a delegation of Israeli and US officials.
The flight was allowed to cross Saudi Arabian airspace, which is normally blocked to Israeli air traffic. On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia announced that it would allow any flights going to and from the UAE to fly over its territory, a move that gives Israel access to some of the kingdom’s airspace for the first time.
Yesterday, Bahrain also announced that flights between Israel and the UAE would be able to fly over their airspace.
The announcements come amid speculation that Bahrain and Oman could be the next Gulf countries to follow the UAE in formalising ties with Israel.
On Saturday, the UAE repealed a law boycotting Israel which had been in place since 1972. It is only the third Arab country in the Middle East to recognise Israel since its founding in 1948.
Flight LY971 – numbered to represent the UAE’s international dialling code – carried delegates including Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat.
Speaking to the media after landing in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, Mr Kushner described the deal between the countries as a “historic breakthrough” and said it was a “tremendous honour” to have joined the flight.
