In light of Saudi Arabia opening its airspace to all carriers, Israeli airlines will be able to minimize cost and offer shorter direct flights to tourist hotspots in Far East, with Thailand set to become first such destination
Israel’s El Al airline submitted on Saturday an official request to fly in Saudi airspace, after Friday’s announcement that Saudi Arabia would open its airspace to all air carriers.
If the proposed flight plans are approved, flights with shortened routes to eastern Asia are set to get underway within the next two weeks.
The initial proposal included flights to Thailand, which are expected to shorten the air time by one and a half to two hours. This is likely to lower the costs of flights as well.
Israir and Arkia airlines are also expected to submit similar requests.
Before this groundbreaking news, Israeli aircrafts were only permitted to fly over Saudi Arabia if they were going to or from the UAE or Bahrain, in accordance with the Abraham Accords.
In order to fly over Saudi airspace, Israeli aircrafts will have to pass through Oman’s airspace. While there is no official permission for such, El Al has an airport in Oman for cases of emergency landings. Nonetheless, if the Saudis accept Israel’s new flight routs, Oman is likely to do the same.
If things go as planned with the Saudis, El Al will be expand its flight options and lower prices to many destinations in the far east, including a direct flight from Israel to India. A flight to Mumbai, per se, could be take as little as 5 hours and 15 minutes instead of 7 hours and 50 minutes.
By decreasing fuel burn and expenses on upkeeping aircrafts, Israeli airlines will be able to significantly lower prices for its’ consumers.
Some additional innovative flights to places such as Singapore, Japan, and Australia are expected to become more accessible and attractive due to this reform.
As reported by Ynetnews