US President Joe Biden has hailed Saudi Arabia's opening of airspace to flights to and from Israel as "historic".
This is "an important step on the way to a more integrated and stable Middle East region," said Biden on Friday shortly before his own flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia.
The opening has also become a reality "thanks to months of continuous diplomatic efforts by my government and Saudi Arabia".
Biden is currently in the Middle East on his first visit as President.
The decision could help "promote further integration of Israel into the region, including with Saudi Arabia," Biden said in a statement.
He will do everything in his power to promote a normalization of relations between the two countries.
Biden wanted to travel from Tel Aviv to Jeddah on Friday afternoon.
Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said Friday the airspace would be "opened to all airlines that meet the authority's overflight requirements."
The move allows for an overflight for planes flying to and from Israel.
Almost two years ago, Saudi Arabia had already allowed an Israeli plane to fly over it on its way to Abu Dhabi and announced that planes from the United Arab Emirates to "all countries" would be allowed to use its airspace.
The United Arab Emirates and Israel had previously agreed to establish diplomatic relations through US mediation.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it will not establish official relations with Israel until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved.
Biden is expected to advocate normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia during his visit to the kingdom.
Such a normalization is more likely to take place in small steps - as with the announcement of the opening of Saudi Arabian airspace.
For some time, Israel has been insisting on opening up the kingdom's airspace so that it can fly to destinations in Asia more quickly.
The Israeli authorities also want Muslim pilgrims from Israel to be able to travel directly to Saudi Arabia.
So far, they have had to make costly stopovers in third countries.
This Friday, Biden will become the first American president in history to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia.
His predecessor Donald Trump had traveled the route in the opposite direction.
During his visit to Saudi Arabia, Biden is also likely to advocate for an increase in the country's oil production in order to lower oil prices and curb inflation in the United States.
The visit to Saudi Arabia, the last stop on the President's Middle East trip, is politically sensitive.
The US President is due to meet controversial Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in the city of Jeddah on Saturday, although US intelligence reports say he was behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Before his election, Biden had said that Saudi Arabia should therefore be treated as a "pariah" state.