(TAN): The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed back efforts to launch the Israel-UAE direct flight, planned to begin in October after a landmark normalisation deal, media reports said.
The air link, projected to be one of the most substantial outcomes of the accord, signed at the White House last month, aims to open up tourism and business opportunities to offset the Covid-19 slowdown that has knocked the economies of both the countries. But the second phase of lockdown in Israel, which now has one of the world’s highest infection rates per capita, has put plans on hold.
“I feel with the COVID that we’re kind of running with our hands behind our backs,” Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum told AFP during a visit to Dubai.
“There were supposed to be direct flights in October, then Israel went into shutdown. Now, when I speak to officials here and there, we’re looking at the first of January,” said Hassan-Nahoum, who is also co-founder of the UAE-Israel Business Council.
UAE carriers Emirates and Etihad, as well as budget operators flydubai and Israir, are all considering flying in the sector, she said. Emirates have even planned to produce kosher meals from its UAE premises by January in keeping with Jewish dietary rules, said media reports.
The UAE was the first Gulf monarchy to normalise ties with Israel and only the third Arab country, after Jordan and Egypt, with whom the Jewish state’s relations are lukewarm. Bahrain also followed its Gulf neighbour’s lead last month.
