El Al to fly Israel's first flight to UAE by commercial carrier
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A timetable on the Israel Airports Authority's website showed the flight will set off on Monday. A return flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, the online timetable showed.
El Al Airlines is scheduled to fly Israel's first flight to the United Arab Emirates by a commercial carrier, as the countries forge ahead with a deal to normalise ties.
The direct flight between Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and the UAE's political capital of Abu Dhabi is expected to carry an Israeli delegation and accompanying officials from the United States, which brokered the August 13 accord.
A timetable on the Israel Airports Authority's website showed the flight will set off on Monday. A return flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, the online timetable showed.
The flight number for the outbound leg is listed as "LY 971" and the return leg as "LY 972", a nod to the UAE and Israel's country codes, respectively.
El Al and smaller Israeli rival Israir had submitted bids for the flight.
A US government official confirmed that officials including Jared Kushner, senior advisor to President Donald Trump, would be on the El Al flight departing from Tel Aviv on Aug. 31 at 10 am.
In May, an Etihad Airways plane flew from the UAE to Tel Aviv to deliver coronavirus supplies to the Palestinians, marking the first known flight by a UAE carrier to Israel.
The Israel-UAE deal awaits negotiations on details such as opening embassies, trade and travel links before it is officially signed.