Officially… Saudi Arabia Allows Israeli Flights over Its Airspace

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia agreed on Monday on allowing Israel to use its airspace for flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai.

The Saudi gave approval to the flights of  Israeli aviation company, Yusayer, to fly over the country's airspace, dramatically shortening flying times to the east and finally allowing Israeli airlines to offer direct flights to Dubai. The next Israeli flight to Dubai is scheduled to take off within the next few hours.

Saudi Arabia agreed on Monday to let Israeli airliners cross its airspace en route to the United Arab Emirates after talks between Saudi officials and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, a senior Trump administration official said.

Kushner and Middle East envoys Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook raised the issue shortly after they arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks. “We were able to reconcile the issue,” the official told Reuters.

“This should resolve any issues that should occur with Israeli carriers taking people from Israel to the UAE and back and to Bahrain,” the official said.