Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow Air India to fly through its airspace on its flights to and from Israel, Israeli media reported Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel and has no diplomatic ties. The lifting of the ban on the use of airspace imposed 70 years ago will signal a cautious convergence in relations between the two countries.
"The airline has not yet received a response to its request to use Saudi airspace for flights between India and Israel," an Air India spokesman told AFP.
There was no comment from Saudi Arabia.
"Saudi Arabia has given Air India permission to fly over its territory within new routes between Israel and India," Israeli media quoted Netanyahu as saying in Washington on Monday.
In contrast, Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia had not granted the same license to Israel's El Al, which flies four times a week from Tel Aviv to Bombay, as the flight takes seven hours as it flies south towards Ethiopia and then eastwards towards India to avoid flying over Saudi Arabia.
Air India has not released any date for the flights to Tel Aviv, but Israeli media have indicated that "flights will begin in the coming weeks," in late March.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced during his visit to Israel last July the new route between Israel and India.
During his visit to India last January, Netanyahu noted that the route between India and Israel could pass over Saudi territory, leading to a drastic shortening of the flight time, referring to the rapprochement with Israel.
A spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) confirmed that "India Airlines received permission to land at Ben-Gurion Airport at the beginning of March" but gave no further details.
In recent years there have been no Indian airlines going to Israel.
