TEL AVIV: El Al airlines will operate Israel’s first commercial flight to the UAE on Monday. A timetable on the Israeli airport authority’s website showed the scheduled flight by Israel’s national air carrier, which will depart from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport for Abu Dhabi.
The direct flight is expected to carry an Israeli delegation and US officials to further cement ties between Israel and the UAE. El Al and another Israeli carrier – Israir – had both submitted bids for the historic flight. The flight number is listed as `LY971’ on the online timetable, perhaps alluding to the UAE’s country code, which is 971.
There are no official air links between Israel and the UAE, and it was unclear whether an Israeli airliner would be able to fly over Saudi Arabia, which has no official ties with Israel, to cut down on flight time.
Officials, including Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, would be on the El Al flight departing from Tel Aviv on 31 August at 10 am. The exact flight route and landing time were still being worked on.