Saudi Arabia has approved Israel’s use of its air space for flights heading to and from the United Arab Emirates, with which Israel signed the historic Abraham Accord this past September.
The approval came just in time for the first, historic Israir flight to depart on Tuesday morning from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, flying to Dubai International Airport.
Emirati airline flydubai began last week to operate flights from Israel to Dubai, on November 26.
Israir, Arkia and El Al Airlines are all scheduled to begin flights to the UAE within the next month.
The three air carriers were “on hold” waiting for Riyadh to make a decision on the issue of allowing their airlines to fly over Saudi territory; without that permission, the route would go through the Arabian Sea and would double the length of the trip, making it far more expensive; some flights would have to be canceled.
More than 40 flights are scheduled at this point to fly each week to Dubai.