First plane with Israeli tourists lands in UAE after the historic Abraham Accords

The first flight carrying Israeli vacationers to the United Arab Emirates landed Sunday within the city-state of Dubai, the most recent signal of the normalization deal reached between the 2 nations.

FlyDubai flight no. FZ8194 landed at Dubai International Airport simply after 5:40pm, bringing the vacationers to the skyscraper-studded metropolis after a roughly three-hour journey. The low-cost service had despatched one in all its Boeing 737s to Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv earlier Sunday morning to choose up the passengers.

The flight flew throughout Saudi Arabia after which over the waters of the Persian Gulf to succeed in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms additionally residence to Abu Dhabi.

The arrival of vacationers comes as Dubai particularly tries to revive its very important tourism trade amid the continued coronavirus pandemic. The UAE and Israel have agreed to launch common industrial flights between their international locations quickly, whereas different latest flights have carried enterprise and governmental delegations.

FlyDubai plans to start its flights to Tel Aviv later this month. The airline mentioned described Sunday’s flight as a “charter” for the incoming vacationers.

Also Read | UAE delegation, US officers go to Israel; Palestinean issues unheeded

It comes as Israel and the UAE, which had maintained covert contacts for years, introduced their diplomatic relationship out into the open. It signed a normalization cope with Israel alongside Bahrain at a White House ceremony in September, making the them the third and fourth Arab nations to presently have peace with Israel.

But whereas Egypt and Jordan earlier signed peace offers, the UAE has mentioned it anticipates having a “warm” peace with Israel. The Emirates additionally hopes the cope with help its efforts to buy superior F-35 fighter jets from the U.S. The offers additionally unite three nations that stay suspicious of Iran.

However, the agreements didn’t handle the decades-long battle between Israel and the Palestinians, who view the pacts as a stab within the again from their fellow Arabs and a betrayal of their trigger for a Palestinian state. The agreements, which had been seen as a international coverage win for President Donald Trump forward of the Nov. three election, now face the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.