The first commercial direct flight between Israel and the UAE landed in Abu Dhabi on August 31, 2020 , a major step in normalising relations after the announcement of a peace deal.
- The El Al airliner made the three-hour trip, carrying a delegation of Israeli and US officials.
- Flight LY971 – numbered to represent the UAE’s international dialling code – carried delegates including Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat.
- The flight was allowed to cross Saudi Arabian airspace, normally blocked to Israeli air traffic.
- The UAE has become only the third Arab country in the Middle East to recognise Israel since its founding in 1948.
- On August 29, the UAE repealed a law boycotting Israel which had been in place since 1972.
(Source: AIR and BBC)
