Israel and Egypt agreed on Wednesday to open direct flights between Tel Aviv and Sharm el-Sheikh., the office of Jewish Prime Minister Naftali Bennett reported.
"Israel and Egypt agreed today (Wednesday, March 16, 2022) to expand direct air service between the two countries with the opening of a new route between Ben-Gurion International Airport and Sharm el-Sheikh," the statement said.
"In accordance with the above, an air route from Ben-Gurion Airport to Sharm el-Sheikh will open in the near future. The flights are expected to begin during next month's Pesach holiday (a week-long Jewish holiday, this year falling between April 15 and 22 - TASS)," the office continued.
The office of the Israeli prime minister noted that "the issue was discussed at a meeting between Prime Minister Bennett and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh last September," and "the new agreement was worked out by Israel and Egypt over the past few days" and "was signed yesterday (March 15 - TASS) in Egypt by an Israeli delegation headed by the secret service Shabak (General Security Service of Israel)." This was possible "after a long process involving the [Israeli] National Security Council and other officials."
"Thanks to this agreement, relations between Israel and Egypt will become even warmer," Bennett said, commenting on the new arrangements with the Egyptian side. "Israel is opening up to the countries of the region, and the basis for this recognition is peace between Israel and Egypt," the Israeli prime minister's office circulated remarks Wednesday.
Background
In October 2021, Egypt Air, the Egyptian national carrier, operated its first commercial flight from Cairo to Tel Aviv. The resumption of air service between the countries after a long hiatus became known on September 13 at the same time as the talks between el-Sisi and Bennett in Sharm el-Sheikh. Air service between Israel and Egypt was interrupted several years ago, with flights from Cairo to Tel Aviv previously operated by Air Sinai, which was specially established for this purpose in 1982 and is unofficially a subsidiary of Egypt Air. For political and image reasons, the national carrier could not then operate flights to the Jewish state under its own brand, and Air Sinai had only two aircraft in its fleet.
In September 2020, in Washington, D.C., the Israeli side, with the active mediation of the US, signed documents to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Prior to this trilateral deal, dubbed the Abrahamic Accords, the Jewish state had diplomatic relations among the Arab countries only with Egypt (since 1979) and Jordan (since 1994).
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Based on materials from TASS