First Official EgyptAir Flight Lands at Israel Airport
Egypt's national carrier Sunday made its first official direct flight to Israel since the two countries signed an historic 1979 peace treaty as an EgyptAir jet landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.
The airline's affiliate, AirSinai, has for decades operated flights to Israel without the company logo, out of fear of public backlash. The national carrier will now run three weekly flights between Cairo and Tel Aviv with the EgyptAir markings.
The Israeli Embassy in Cairo tweeted that direct flights are "an important and welcome sign of strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries, especially economic relations."
Last week, Bahrain's GulfAir made its first direct flight to Israel, further cementing commercial ties established with the signing of the "Abraham Accords" between Israel and four Arab states last year.
Sunday's flight came two weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made the first public visit to Egypt by an Israeli leader in over a decade. He met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in the Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in a sign of warming ties between the two countries.
In August, Israel removed a longstanding advisory for its citizens about travel to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, a move seen as a gesture to its strategic partner.
04 October 2021, 11:04
11
Which only goes to show that Egypt and Bahrein as well as many other Arab/Moslem States have moved forward to show that co-existance with Israel is not only possible, but is advantageous.
Such a pity that Lebanon can not realise this.
04 October 2021, 16:18
01
Itis not that they were opening new route.If you would only read the article you would see that in the meanwhile all the flights were carried out by an Egyptair subsidiary, Air Sinai.
Apart from that you shgould by now know the saying "Better late than never"
04 October 2021, 19:27
11
It is not 43 years later as you incorrectly remark, it is simply that the parent company Egyptair has taken over the long established flights of its subsidiary Air Sinai, EXACTLY as stated in the article..
