First flight from UAE lands in Israel month after historic Abraham Accords

The first-ever commercial passenger plane landed in Tel Aviv from Abu Dhabi on October 19, a move seen to further strengthen the normalisation of ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The Etihad Airways Flight No. 9607 landed at Israel’s Ben-Gurion international airport in the early hours of Monday. The Etihad's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft then departed for Abu Dhabi from Tel Aviv later in the day carrying a travel and tourism delegation from Israel. 

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First GCC carrier to land in Israel

Etihad Airways in a statement on Monday said that the UAE's national airline became the first Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) carrier to operate a commercial passenger flight to and from Israel. "As a travel trade mission, the flight will bring a group of tourism industry leaders, key corporate decision-makers, travel agents, and cargo agents, along with media to experience Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE, at the invitation of Etihad Airways and representatives of Abu Dhabi’s tourism industry," the statement read. 

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Etihad further informed that the airline became the first non-Israeli airline in the Middle East to launch a dedicated website for the Israeli market in the Hebrew language. The Etihad airline flights will also operate as cargo planes and will carry commercial cargo to and from points across the airline's global network. 

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This comes just over a month after Israel and UAE signed Abraham Accords at the White House in a US-brokered peace agreement on September 15. It also follows the first symbolic flight from El Al, Israel's national carrier that had landed in Abu Dhabi last month carrying high-profile American and Israeli delegates, including US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. When UAE signed the historic agreement, it became the third Arab country after Egypt and Jordan to officially normalise ties with Israel. 

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(With inputs from AP)