The first direct flight between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi is scheduled for August 31, with a return flight the next day. It is the first concrete expression of the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed earlier this month.
The flight will be operated by Israel's National Airline El Al, which stopped flying because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is listed as Flight 971, which is the area code of the UAE, and will carry an Israeli delegation led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat and a U.S. delegation headed by U.S. President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The following day, there will be a direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv, this time labeled 972 for Israel's area code.
The idea of direct flights between the two countries would have been unthinkable just a month ago. Flights were one of the first measures Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of after signing Israel's third peace treaty with an Arab country earlier this month, following Egypt and Jordan.
He said that Israel is working to enable direct flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai that will fly over Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu said it is only a three-hour flight, yet will change the Israeli aviation industry and the Israeli economy.
It was not clear if this inaugural flight would fly over Saudi Arabia, which would indicate a tacit Saudi acceptance of the peace deal.
Israelis have already begun investigating vacation options in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Gadi Hitman, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Ariel University, said the UAE wants to play a larger role in the region.
"They see themselves as a new regional political power, and they want to be part of the mediating between Israelis and Palestinians in the future," he said. "They see themselves as the pioneers who want to break the glass ceiling, and they are looking forward to being mediators, just as Egypt tried to do many years ago, and Qatar and many other Arab states."
Kushner and the rest of the U.S. delegation are expected to travel to several other Arab states to encourage them to sign peace deals with Israel.
