El Al requested permission from Saudia Arabia to use its airspace for its historic first commercial flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates on Monday, Ynet reported. Israel’s National Security Council conveyed the request on behalf of El Al, the report said. Saudia Arabia has yet to respond to the request. The Israel Airports Authority’s website listed the flight on Friday as Flight LY971, a nod to the UAE’s international calling code number. A return flight to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Tuesday will be numbered LY972, Israel’s international calling code. The first official flight between #Israel and the UAE is officially listed on the Ben Gurion Airport website! FYI: the flight from Israel is flight number 971 (🇦🇪 phone country code); the returning flight is 972 (🇮🇱 phone country code)! https://t.co/R0wxvkQdAx — Embassy of Israel (@IsraelinUSA) August 28, 2020 For security reasons, the first flight will be on El Al’s Boeing 737 rather than the Dreamline 787 since the Dreamline is not equipped with the Israel Aerospace Industries’s Skyshield systems, the Ynet report said. U.S. officials earlier said the anticipated first flight will include American officials led by President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Other U.S. officials on board will include national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Mideast envoy Avi Berkowitz and envoy for Iran Brian Hook. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier announced that his national security adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, will lead Israel’s delegation. A number of Israeli government ministries will also send representatives, including the directors of the foreign and defense ministries and the national aviation authority, he said. Private jets earlier flew between the two nations as their officials conducted covert talks. In May and June, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways flew cargo freighters to Ben Gurion carrying aid for the Palestinians to combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Israel and the UAE agreed to normalize relations Aug. 13. By Aug. 16, telephone calls began ringing between the nations, marking the first concrete step of the U.S.-brokered diplomatic accord. The historic deal delivered a key foreign policy victory to Trump as he seeks reelection, and reflected a changing Middle East in which shared concerns about archenemy Iran have largely overtaken traditional Arab support for the Palestinians. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)

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