On Wednesday, August 3, the Israeli airline El Al received permission from Saudi Arabia to fly over its territory. The Kan-11 TV channel reported that the permit has already entered into force, now the airline is waiting for permission from Oman, which, as the channel’s correspondent Sharon Idan noted, is a “purely technical issue.”

Flights through the airspace of Saudi Arabia will significantly reduce the time of flight to India, Thailand, Australia. If at the moment the flight to Mumbai is almost 8 hours, then after it will become just over 5 hours, the flight to Melbourne will take 15 hours instead of 17, to Bangkok – 8 hours instead of 11. It is expected that the reduction in air time will also lead to lower costs tickets.

El Al is expected to start flying on the new routes next week.

Permission from Riyadh, according to Kan Bet, was also received by other Israeli airlines.