Agencies-Gaza post
Oman rejects opening airspace to Israeli commercial flight
Oman rejected opening its airspace to Israeli commercial flights, Israeli media reported, unlike some of its Gulf neighbors.
Israel would get official permit to fly over Oman soon after the flag carrier and other Israeli Airlines had been given permit to fly over Saudi Arabia, said the El AI Airlines chief executive Dina Ben-Tal last week.
“It’s not just Saudi Arabia. We need the full route to be approved,” Ben-Tal reported.
However, Oman decided against the decision to permit the Israeli airplane to fly in its airspace.
Israeli media claimed that Oman decided against the decision because of Iranian pressures.
Last month, Saudi Arabia stated it would open its airspace to all air carriers. El Al and smaller Israeli rival Arkia later said they had applied for permission to fly over both Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Opening Saudi space to flights to and from Israel was a focus of US President Joe Biden’s Middle East tour last month.
Had Oman permitted Israeli carriers over its airspace, flights from Israel to India and Thailand would have been about two hours shorter and saved fuel costs.
Present ways to those regions bypass Saudi airspace by flying south over the Red Sea around Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s permitting for Israel’s use of its airspace was slammed as a prelude to a normalization of ties between the two countries – a process Riyadh rejects it is taking part in.
Oman has repeatedly stated it will not normalize relationship with Israel until Palestinians are granted a state of their own.
