AI makes history, lands in Israel using Saudi airspace

Tel Aviv, March 23 

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Air India’s maiden flight to Israel has landed in Tel Aviv, reducing the travel time substantially after Saudi Arabia for the first time allowed a commercial flight to use its airspace, indicating a thaw in ties between Arab kingdom and the Jewish state.

Heralding a new beginning in the people-to-people contact and diplomatic ties between India and Israel, the state-run Air India introduced the direct thrice-a-week flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Saudi permitted the airline to use its airspace, enabling it to take a shorter route, covering the distance in 7.25 hours, 2.10 hours less compared to only other airline that flies between the two countries —Israel’s El Al. — PTI