Israel, Egypt launch new flight route forward of Passover

Israel and Egypt agreed immediately to open a brand new flight route between Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport and the Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted this afternoon, “We’re inaugurating a brand new line from Ben Gurion Airport to the town of Sharm el-Sheikh (within the Sinai Peninsula), which is able to begin working subsequent month. Cooperation between Israel and Egypt is increasing. Israel is opening as much as the nations within the area, and that is one other essential step in warming up the peace settlement between Israel and Egypt.”

Bennett additionally stated that “either side have to put money into strengthening this relationship, and that is precisely what we’re doing. I thank the safety forces that oversaw the preparations that may enable this flight path to open.”

The brand new route will develop the scope of direct flights between the 2 nations, permitting Israelis to achieve Sharm el-Sheikh by airplane as an alternative of by taxi or bus, the one two strategies of transportation that have been attainable. Sharm el-Sheikh has been a preferred vacation vacation spot for Israelis for a few years, although safety considerations had affected the variety of vacationers visiting the area. Vacationer operators are actually anticipating that the brand new flight route will likely be launched forward of the Jewish Passover vacation when Israelis flock to Egyptian Crimson Sea resorts. Flights ought to ease the vacation season’s lengthy strains on the Taba crossing level, as Israeli vacationers will arrive on the airport and never on the terrestrial border crossing.

The 1979 peace settlement between Israel and Egypt stipulates that each nations would function a flight route between Tel Aviv and Cairo. Within the years after the signature of the peace treaty, EgyptAir arrange a one-plane/one-destination daughter firm titled Air Sinai in an effort to adjust to the settlement. It didn’t need the EgyptAir model to be related to Israel in any approach. Over time, peace between the nations was described as chilly, although former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu developed important safety ties between the nations, which share pursuits over holding the Gaza border calm.

Reportedly, the opening of the Ben-Gurion-Sharm route was mentioned already final September in Sharm el-Sheikh throughout the first official meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Bennett. Then, in October, EgyptAir launched a flight route from Cairo to Tel Aviv. The deal for the brand new flight route was reached after talks between Israeli and Egyptian safety companies, together with Israel’s Shin Guess, Israel’s Nationwide Safety Council and representatives of the Egyptian authorities.

In one other signal of warming bilateral ties, Israeli athletes will take part on the Cairo 2022 Artistic Gymnastic World Cup opening March 17. It will be the primary sports activities competitors in Egypt for the reason that 2005 Judo World Championships through which a senior group of Israeli athletes will compete. Israel will likely be represented by Olympic champion Artem Dolgopyat; Andrey Medvedev, a bronze medalist from the World Leaping Championships; and Alexander Myakinin, a bronze medalist from the European Championships two years in the past.

On Feb. 14, Sisi made a gesture that made important headlines in Israel and elsewhere. Getting into right into a Cairo conference corridor, he crossed it to personally greet Israeli Power Minister Karine Elharrar. The Israeli minister, who additionally participated in a convention, makes use of a wheelchair.

Israel’s ties with its different neighbor, Jordan, have additionally been warming up these days. International Minister Yair Lapid met March 10 with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman. It was the second time the 2 males met since Lapid took workplace final June, however the first time that the meeting was publicized with a photograph by Jordan.