Abu Dhabi (AFP)
The Emirati airline Etihad Airways announced on Monday the launch in March of direct flights to Israel, after the normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and the Hebrew state.
This "daily service to Tel Aviv (due to start) on March 28," the Abu Dhabi-based company said in a statement.
The United Arab Emirates signed an agreement in September to normalize relations with Israel, the first between an Arab Gulf country and the Jewish state.
The two countries signed in the wake of cooperation agreements on air links, visa exemptions, investment protection as well as in the fields of science and technology.
The Emirates were the third Arab country to normalize their relations with Israel, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994 - which thus ended the state of war with their Israeli neighbor -.
Bahrain quickly followed suit, with a deal reached in September.
Emirati low-cost airline flydubai announced in early November that it would begin direct flights to Tel Aviv on November 26.
© 2020 AFP