Today, Thursday, a commercial flight bound for Israel crossed Saudi airspace for the first time since Saudi Arabia opened its airspace to all flights, including Israeli flights, last month.
The Cathay Pacific Airlines flight took off from Hong Kong and is due to land in Tel Aviv this morning.
The flight tracking service showed that the plane flew over the United Arab Emirates and the Persian Gulf before crossing the Saudi coast near the city of Dammam. The aircraft flew over northern Saudi Arabia and Jordan before entering Israeli territory north of the Dead Sea.
Another Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv took a different route earlier this week, flying over China, Kazakhstan and Turkey and entering Israeli airspace from the Mediterranean.
Israeli Airways has not yet flown over Saudi Arabian airspace since the Kingdom announced the reopening of its airspace.
And the Israel Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Israeli airline El Al received official permission from Riyadh to use its airspace. Regarding Israel’s Channel 13, he said that El Al and the Israeli airline Arkia were still awaiting final approval from Saudi Arabia.
Source: The Times of Israel.