Saudi Arabia on Wednesday denied reports that it has granted a request by Air India to fly through Saudi airspace en route to Israel.
The Indian carrier's new route was rumored to service direct flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv, cutting the flight time between India and Israel from nearly nine hours down to six hours.
Riyadh said that while Air India has submitted a request of this nature, it has yet to be approved.
Indian media said Wednesday that the country's flag carrier airline plans to operate three weekly flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv. The flights also appear on Ben-Gurion International Airport's flight schedule for March.
The Tourism Ministry offered Air India a $750,000 grant to invest in the new route. The grant is in line with the ministry's incentives policy, which seeks to increase the number of direct flights into Israel, thus boosting incoming tourism.
