UAE airline begins to sell tickets to Israeli citizens

El Al Israel Airlines on Thursday extended its suspension of flights to the end of August and said it reached cost-cutting agreements with the country’s main labor union.

'Peace', written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, is painted on the first plane to make an official flight between Israel and the UAE, August 30, 2020 (photo credit: EL AL)
'Peace', written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, is painted on the first plane to make an official flight between Israel and the UAE, August 30, 2020
(photo credit: EL AL)
The UAE's national airline, Etihad Airways, has started selling tickets to Israeli citizens, Channel 13 reported on Wednesday.
The tickets will be sold through TAL Aviation, an Israeli tourism company, allowing Israelis to fly to various destinations around the world, in the Middle East, Asia and beyond.
The announcement comes after Israel and the UAE declared that they would normalize diplomatic relations.
An Israeli delegation, headed by National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat, flew to Abu Dhabi this week together with his American counterpart Robert O’Brien, White House Special Adviser Jared Kushner. It was the first-ever direct flight by an Israeli airline from Israel to the UAE.
The El Al plane, bearing an Israeli flag, was also the first-ever Israeli flight over Saudi Arabia.