RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (Washington Insider Magazine) – More overflights to and from Israel will be possible thanks to Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it will open its airspace to all airline companies, an indication that the two nations’ ties are improving.
According to international treaties that state there should be no prejudice between civil aircraft, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said on Thursday that the nation’s airspace is now accessible to all carriers that satisfy its conditions for overflights.
Shorter flights between Asia to Israel will result from Riyadh’s proclamation of an open-skies policy since airlines servicing those routes won’t have to take as lengthy of a detour over Saudi Arabia to get there, according to Al Jazeera.
Joe Biden, the president of the United States, who will visit the country as part of a regional tour on Friday, hailed Saudi Arabia’s action.
Earlier on Thursday, a US source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia will soon approve direct charter planes from Israel for Muslims taking part in the yearly Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, as well as unrestricted overflight access for Israeli carriers.
Israel was not specifically mentioned in the Saudi statement since there are no diplomatic ties between the two countries and the monarchy does not recognise Israel as a state.
However behind the scenes, the two countries have been collaborating on security concerns for some years because they are both worried about the rising regional power of their adversary Iran.
Since its 2 Gulf neighbors forged diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020 through US intervention, Saudi Arabia has really been permitting the use of its skies for flights between Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel.
A report claims that in 2020 Saudi air traffic control permitted an Israeli airliner headed to India to pass across its airspace to escape poor weather.
Biden expressed his excitement about being the first president to travel directly from Israel to the Saudi city of Jeddah on Friday in a guest article for The Washington Post. He described the trip as a “small symbol of the blossoming relations and steps towards normalization between Israel and the Arab world.”
