El Al 971 to Abu Dhabi: first Israel-UAE ‘commercial flight’ | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
October 04, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2023
El Al 971 to Abu Dhabi: first Israel-UAE ‘commercial flight’

World+Biz

BSS/AFP
31 August, 2020, 03:20 pm
Last modified: 31 August, 2020, 03:23 pm

Related News

  • Israeli troops kill Hamas man who army says attacked post in West Bank
  • Israel reopens Gaza crossing to Palestinian workers
  • Arab family of five shot dead as crime rates in Israel soar
  • Saudi envoy links Israel normalisation talks to land-for-peace offer
  • Biden administration poised to allow Israeli citizens travel to US without US visa

El Al 971 to Abu Dhabi: first Israel-UAE ‘commercial flight’

Israel’s National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat will be the most senior figure aboard the flight on the side of the Jewish state

BSS/AFP
31 August, 2020, 03:20 pm
Last modified: 31 August, 2020, 03:23 pm
Photo : Collected
Photo : Collected

An Israeli-American delegation was set to take off Monday on the first commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi as the US-brokered normalisation agreement between the Jewish state and the UAE takes hold.

The El Al flight, scheduled to leave at 0730 GMT from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, will carry a delegation led on the American side by President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner.

The word "peace" was painted on the plane's cockpit in Arabic, English and Hebrew, images issued by El Al showed.

The agreement between Israel and the Emirates to normalise ties was announced on August 13, making the UAE the first Gulf country and only the third Arab nation to establish relations with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan.

Israel's National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat will be the most senior figure aboard the flight on the side of the Jewish state.

The scheduled talks in Abu Dhabi aim at boosting cooperation between the two regional economic powerhouses in areas including aviation, tourism, trade, health, energy and security.

The flight by Israel's national carrier, numbered 971 like the UAE's international dialling code, was reported to have received permission to cross Saudi Arabia's air space.

Officials at El Al and the Israel Airport Authority would not confirm the reports, which would be the first known time El Al crosses Saudi airspace.

The return flight, set to leave Abu Dhabi on Tuesday morning, is numbered 972 — Israel's international dialling code.

Sparks fly

Late Sunday, Israel's health ministry updated its list of "green countries" with low coronavirus infection rates to include the UAE and eight other countries.

The change meant the Israeli officials and journalists travelling to Abu Dhabi would be exempted from a 14-day quarantine upon return.

Since the agreement between the UAE and Israel was unveiled, there have been phone calls between their ministers, and on Saturday the Emirates in a new milestone repealed a 1972 law boycotting Israel.

"It will be permissible to enter, exchange or possess Israeli goods and products of all kinds in the UAE and trade in them," read a federal decree issued by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking alongside Kushner in Jerusalem on Sunday, praised "the swift pace of normalisation" between his country and the UAE.

Noting the UAE's Saturday move, Netanyahu said it "opens the door" for "unbridled trade, tourism, investments, exchanges between the Middle East's two most advanced economies".

"You will see how the sparks fly on this. It's already happening," he said, predicting that "today's breakthroughs will become tomorrow's norms. It will pave the way for other countries to normalise their ties with Israel."

As part of the normalisation agreement announced by Trump, Israel agreed to suspend its planned annexations in the occupied West Bank, although Netanyahu quickly insisted the plans remained on the table in the long run.

The Palestinians dubbed the UAE's agreement with Israel a "stab in the back" as it opens parts of the Arab world to the Jewish state while their own conflict remains unresolved.

Saudi Arabia, in keeping with decades of policy by most Arab states, says it will not follow the UAE's example until Israel has signed a peace deal with the Palestinians establishing an independent Palestinian state.

Top News

El Al 971 / Israel / UAE / first commercial flight

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh Bank's measures failed to control inflation: IMF
    Bangladesh Bank's measures failed to control inflation: IMF
  • US will continue to voice concerns if govts engage in censorship, harassment of journos: Peter Haas
    US will continue to voice concerns if govts engage in censorship, harassment of journos: Peter Haas
  • File photo of Bangladesh Bank. Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS
    Bangladesh Bank sharply raises repo rate by 75 basis points to fight inflation

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Collected
    Is Atif Aslam coming to Dhaka?
  • Illustration: TBS
    Jackfruit burgers! Bangladesh’s export basket gets a new item
  • Cenbank finally moves to make money costlier to fight inflation
    Cenbank finally moves to make money costlier to fight inflation
  • Urgent dollar support sought for fuel import
    Urgent dollar support sought for fuel import
  • U.S. Dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    Hopes for $30b reserve by June amid concerns to meet IMF threshold
  • Eight banks' provision shortfall jumps to Tk26,133cr on mounting default loans
    Eight banks' provision shortfall jumps to Tk26,133cr on mounting default loans

Related News

  • Israeli troops kill Hamas man who army says attacked post in West Bank
  • Israel reopens Gaza crossing to Palestinian workers
  • Arab family of five shot dead as crime rates in Israel soar
  • Saudi envoy links Israel normalisation talks to land-for-peace offer
  • Biden administration poised to allow Israeli citizens travel to US without US visa

Features

A man plays online game on a computer at an internet cafe in Beijing, China August 31, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo

From play to pay: How microtransactions took over gaming

4h | Features
Unlike Bangla Medium students who are well-versed in the local university admission process from an early age, English Medium students often remain in the dark about these requirements. Photo: Collected

The slim route for English Medium students into public universities

9h | Pursuit
Illustration: TBS

The art of budget outlining in a business pitch

9h | Pursuit
In areas where the poison is applied, the water quality, zooplankton and phytoplankton are damaged as long as the poison remains. Photo: Rajib Dhar

Poison fishing spreads to Padma River

13h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

New Delhi has asked these diplomats to leave India by October 10

New Delhi has asked these diplomats to leave India by October 10

2h | TBS World
Has inflation reduced suffering?

Has inflation reduced suffering?

1h | TBS Economy
The Shakib-Tamim conflict affected Jersey market

The Shakib-Tamim conflict affected Jersey market

4h | TBS SPORTS
Where is the obstacle to becoming a member of the European Union?

Where is the obstacle to becoming a member of the European Union?

7h | TBS World
EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]