Saudi Arabia permanently opens its airspace for flights between UAE, Israel

RIYADH, Sept. 2 (YPA) – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday that it agreed to the UAE’s request to allow flights coming to and departing from it to all countries to cross Saudi airspace, according to the official Saudi news agency.

This comes days after the first commercial flight from Israel arrived in Abu Dhabi through the Kingdom’s airspace.

On Tuesday, Etihad Airways, the second largest airline in the UAE, began selling flight tickets to Israelis for the first time at its main airport in Abu Dhabi, according to the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the Saudi decision, noting that Israeli aircraft can now fly to the UAE directly.

However, the Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan stressed that his country’s stances towards the Palestinian issue “will not change.”

A chartered Israeli plane flew to transport American and Israeli delegations from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi over Saudi airspace this week in the first official flight of an Israeli airline over the kingdom.

YPA