Friday, March 23, 2018

An Israel-Bound Flight Flew Over Saudi Arabian Airspace For The First Time In 70 Years



Business Insider: An Israel-bound flight flew over Saudi Arabian airspace, making history between two countries that still don't have diplomatic relations

* A maiden commercial flight between New Delhi and Tel Aviv flew over Saudi airspace on Thursday evening, marking a historic shift in diplomacy between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
* AirIndia flight 139 flew over Saudi Arabia for approximately three hours, coming within 37 miles (60 kilometers) of the capital city Riyadh.
* Israel and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations, although there have been major signs of warming ties.

A maiden commercial flight between New Delhi and Tel Aviv flew over Saudi airspace on Thursday evening, marking a historic shift in diplomacy between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Currently, Israel and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations, although signs of warming ties between the Middle East powers have become frequent. This most recent move has ended a 70-year ban on planes marked for Israel flying over Saudi Arabian airspace.

AirIndia's Boeing 787 Dreamliner left New Delhi at 6 p.m. local time, and flew over Saudi Arabia for approximately three hours, coming within 37 miles (60 kilometers) of Riyadh, Reuters reported.

Read more ....

Update: Israel-bound plane flies over Saudi Arabia for first time (The Guardian)

WNU Editor:It was not an El Al plane (the plane was an Air India carrier) .... but it is a small step for change.

1 comment:

B.Poster said...

I'd say its more than a "small change." Huge change, gargantuan change, or even "sea change" is what I would call it. It is helpful to have a skilled deal maker/negotiator as POTUS who has good relations with both countries along with family members and close associates who are highly skilled and trustworthy to assist in this endeavor. The constant efforts to undermine, undercut, and deny key team members access to information they would normally routinely expect to have in order to carry out their jobs is unhelpful to say the least. In spite of this, much seems to be being accomplished.