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Israeli flights allowed to pass Saudi Arabia airspace
Several airlines have passed through Saudi Arabian airspace for the first time after a ban on overflights to and from Israel was lifted, the Anews reported, citing the DPA.
A first flight from Tel Aviv to the Seychelles departed on a new route on Wednesday evening (August 3), Air Seychelles said on Thursday (August 4), after receiving permission from the Saudi authorities.
A Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong crossed Saudi airspace before landing in Tel Aviv on Thursday, the flight observation service Flightradar24 showed.
Israeli airlines are still waiting for permission to fly over Saudi Arabia, according to reports.
Saudi Arabia overturned the ban on commercial flights to and from Israel in mid-July during US President Joe Biden's visit to the region, in a move seen as a sign of rapprochement.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations, with the Gulf kingdom not even recognising Israel as a state, one possible reason why the statement made by Saudi Arabia at the time did not refer to Israel by name.
The two nations have been working together behind the scenes for some time on security issues, however, uniting against the threat of their shared enemy Iran.
Saudi Arabia opens air space to all carriers that follow overflight authority terms
The ban, which also applied to non-Israeli airlines, had already been eased slightly in recent years, with Saudi Arabia allowing overflights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The two Gulf countries established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under US mediation.
An exemption was also made for Indian airline Air India connections to and from Tel Aviv.
Source: anews
