Breaking the Ice? Bibi Announces Oman Allowed «El Al» to Utilize Its Airspace

Local Editor

As part of breaking the ice with Arab countries, in other words, NORMALIZATION, Oman's leader Qaboos bin Said al Said has given “El Al” the right to fly over his country's airspace, “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.

Netanyahu said that the sultan's permission to “El Al” came during his visit there in October. His comments came at an annual conference for “Israeli” ambassadors serving abroad.

Earlier this year, Oman and Saudi Arabia granted Air India the right to fly to and from the “Israeli” entity. Though, the move has little practical significance without similar permission from Saudi Arabia.

Netanyahu also said that it is now possible to fly over Egypt and Chad, a country with whom the entity still does not have formal diplomatic relations but whose president visited two weeks ago and made clear this would happen soon.

Netanyahu said that it is “apparently” possible to fly over Sudan, which would make it possible to fly directly to Brazil, cutting at least two hours in flight time from the more circuitous route taken today.

“This opens other markets. This is another quarter of a billion people,” he said.

Netanyahu's comments about the flights came as he was discussing how the entity’s diplomatic relations have flourished, a product of the intelligence and technology it has to offer.

“The combination of our intelligence and technological capabilities gives us a map of relations that is getting bigger,” he said Netanyahu said that the most important flight route the entity has is the direct flight to San Francisco. “It doesn't matter how many flight are added, there are not enough,” he said of this route to Silicon Valley. “These are not tourists, these are investors.”

The second most important route, he said, was to Beijing and other cities in China. “This is the biggest market that has opened, and it is important to get a free trade agreement.”

And the third most important route, he said, is to India, noting that Air India flies to and from New Delhi everyday directly over Saudi Arabia.

“Soon we will fly to Mumbai,” he said, referring to direct flight over Saudi Arabia and Oman to Mumbai, since “El Al” currently flies there via a more circuitous route. “Tel Aviv -Mumbai is a shorter flight than Tel Aviv-London,” he added.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team