Saudi Arabia officially announced that it had agreed to allow all flights to and from the Emirates to cross its airspace, two days after the first overt Israeli flight crossed the Kingdom's airspace towards Abu Dhabi, as part of the ongoing normalization process between Israel and the UAE.
The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said in a tweet on Twitter today, Wednesday, that "the UAE request to allow the passage of the Kingdom's airspace for flights coming to and departing from it to all countries has been approved."
This announcement is the first official confirmation by Saudi Arabia to allow aircraft from all countries, including Israel, to cross its airspace to and from the UAE.
On Monday, Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump and his chief adviser, revealed in statements he made in Abu Dhabi upon his arrival with an Israeli delegation that Saudi airspace had been opened to Israeli flights.
Commenting on this development, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that Israeli aircraft will be allowed to fly directly to the UAE.
In a video message, Netanyahu did not explicitly say that Israeli aircraft could cross Saudi airspace, but he was tracking the path of future flights on a map to indicate this.
In addition to Jared Kushner and his companions, the Israeli El Al plane that crossed Saudi airspace to the UAE carried Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Bin Shabat, who met with Emirati officials, in the context of preparing Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv to sign an agreement to normalize relations between them.