The launch of the first direct flight between Tel Aviv and Sharm El-Sheikh – Agency for Africa

On Sunday, Israel and Egypt opened the first direct air route between the cities of Tel Aviv and Sharm El Sheikh, the Egyptian coastal resort overlooking the Red Sea, the Israeli company El Al announced.

“The first flight No. 5193 of the El Al group’s Sundoor company, bound for Sharm El Sheikh, takes off this morning at 10:15 am from Ben Gurion Airport (07:15 GMT), which is the first flight by an airline,” El Al said in a statement. A statement that “the airline is heading to Sharm el-Sheikh.”

Direct flights already connect Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv with Cairo Airport, Egypt. The two countries have recently strengthened their relations.

In early October, a plane belonging to the Egyptian national airline EgyptAir landed in Israel for the first time. Previously, flights between the two countries were provided by a subsidiary of EgyptAir, Sinai Air, whose planes did not fly the Egyptian flag.

Since coming to power last June, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has visited Egypt twice, in September to meet President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and last month to attend a summit with the latter and the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

This is the first tripartite meeting of its kind between the leaders of Egypt, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The three leaders discussed tripartite relations and recent developments on regional issues in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh on the shores of the Red Sea, the Egyptian presidency announced in a press release.

Since the normalization of relations with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020, Israel has opened direct flights with these countries.