El Al Israel Airlines said on Thursday it would resume flights to India in October after a three-year absence, citing shorter flight times due to its ability to fly over Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Israel Airlines will operate four weekly flights to Mumbai from Tel Aviv using Boeing 737 aircraft, with the route expected to take 5.5 hours, compared with 7.45 hours previously.
Launching new routes is now possible after receiving recent approvals to fly over the skies of Saudi Arabia and Oman,” El Al said.
India is popular with Israeli tourists and businessmen.
Last month, Muscat joined Riyadh to allow Israeli civilian flights to fly over, and El Al used the new route for flights to Asia. El Al says the new Saudi corridor will allow the country to expand routes in Asia and to Australia
It will also fly twice a week to New Delhi on larger Boeing 777s or 787s. El Al said flight times on this route will be reduced to 6.5 hours from 9am.