Israeli airline Israir seeks UAE landing permit

Israir Airlines Ltd. has started the process of applying for a landing permit in the UAE, Chief Executive officer Uri Sirkis said on Sunday.

The two countries announced last week that they plan to normalize relations.

Dubai is a “very, very attractive” destination, since it is only 3 1/4 hours away, and it is likely to be very popular with Israelis, just as Turkey and Greece are, the CEO said in an interview with Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster.

While Israel has peace agreements with both Egypt and Jordan, Israeli airlines haven’t been permitted to fly to vacation spots such as Aqaba in Jordan or Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, he said, adding that he hopes that in the case of the UAE, the situation will be different. In addition, in order to get to the UAE, Israeli planes would have to fly over Saudi Arabia, which until now hasn’t granted Israeli airlines overflight permission for destinations such as India, he said.