Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu at an event in the US. (AFP photo)

NEW DELHI: Get ready to say shalom as the aerial distance between India and Israel has just shrunk. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Washington Monday that Saudi Arabia has granted Air India permission to fly over its territory. The nod is for the proposed thrice-weekly Delhi-Tel Aviv nonstop that is to be launched within a month.

This will be a first for any commercial airliner as Saudi does not recognise Israel and airlines of both countries do not overfly each other’s airspace. As a result, Israeli carrier Al El has to take a circuitous route for its Mumbai-Tel Aviv flights which it covers in 7-8 hours. AI’s direct route will mean cutting the flying time between Delhi and Israel by at least 2-3 hours. Reduced fuel burn will result in lower fares.

“Prime Minister Modi has achieved the impossible by getting the direct route for AI on its flights between India and Israel. This has happened due to his excellent personal relations with those who could have made the impossible possible,” said a highly placed source. Indian authorities did not want to come on record given the delicate diplomatic situation.

Saudi and several other Islamic nations do not recognise Israel. As a result, the four-times-a-week Mumbai-Tel Aviv El Al flight does not overfly some countries on the direct flight path like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan due to which it has to take a longer route.

El Al flights taking off from Tel Aviv for Mumbai go to the southern tip of the country, fly over Red Sea completely avoiding Saudi and then turn east from the “horn of Africa” that juts into the Arabian Sea straight to its destination. Due to this, the distance of 4,057 km between Mumbai and Tel Aviv is covered in seven to eight hours – almost the time taken to fly the 6,700-km-apart Delhi and London.

In July, 2017, when PM Modi flew from Delhi to Tel Aviv, Air India One also took the longer route to Israel.

Last May, US President Trump’s Air Force One was possibly the first plane to fly direct from Riyadh to Tel Aviv. A White House press secretary had then tweeted: “Another historic moment on @POTUS first foreign trip. AF1 flies direct from Riyadh to Tel Aviv.” Netanyahu had tweeted on May 22, 2017, “Mr. President (Trump), you just flew from Riyadh to Tel Aviv. I hope one day an Israeli prime minister will be able to fly from Tel Aviv to Riyadh.”

The Israeli PM frequently has to take long detours to avoid overflying airspace of countries that do no have ties with Israel. Last February he spent 3.5 hours more in air while flying from Singapore to Sydney to avoid Indonesian airspace, another Islamic majority state that does not have ties with Israel. Netanyahu had to take a 9,420-km route between Sydney and Singapore that was covered in just over 11 hours. For Australian or Singapore airlines, the same route means flying 6,630 km in under eight hours.

