Tel Aviv: Air India launched yesterday the first scheduled service to Israel to be allowed to cross Saudi airspace, a sign of a behind-the-scenes improvement in ties between the Arab kingdom and the Jewish state. Flight AI 139 landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport about 30 minutes after its scheduled arrival time of 1:15 am IST.
“This is a historic moment,” Israeli Transport Minister Yisrael Katz told AFP on the tarmac as the Boeing Dreamliner rolled to a halt. “It is the first time that there is an official connection between the state of Israel and Saudi Arabia,” he said in Hebrew.
