Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Thursday thanked Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said for opening Oman's airspace to all carriers, including Israeli airlines, which will now be able to offer shorter routes to Asia.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
"It's a historic and significant decision for the Israeli economy and the Israeli traveler," Cohen said.
Oman's civil aviation authority on Thursday said the sultanate's airspace will be open for all carriers that meet the authority's requirements for overflying.
"Enforcing international and local requirements against discrimination in dealing with civilian aircraft, the Civil Aviation Authority confirms that the sultanate's airspace is open to all carriers that meet the requirements of overflying," the CAA said in a statement posted on its Twitter account.
Saudi Arabia, which gave tacit approval to the US-brokered pacts inked by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020, has allowed airlines, including Israeli carriers, to overfly its territory on flights to and from the two countries.
Opening Saudi Arabia's airspace to flights to and from Israel was a focus of US President Joe Biden's Mideast tour in July. Israel has no official ties with the kingdom, but the visit concluded with success when Riyadh made the official announcement that it would allow overflight rights to all airlines, including Israeli.
Despite this, Israeli officials had said the corridor could not be implemented until Muscat consented because it would also entail flying over Oman.
Israel's national carrier El Al said several months ago that once that hurdle was removed, it would cut about 2.5 hours from flights to India and Thailand and save fuel costs. Present routes to those popular destinations bypass Saudi airspace by flying south over the Red Sea around Yemen.
"We are planning to reschedule our network around that new (shorter) route," CEO Dina Ben-Tal said at the time, adding that El Al was also looking into new non-stop routes to destinations such as Australia. "It definitely will have a huge efficiency (benefit) around our network."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
