Direct flights operated by Air India between Tel Aviv and New Delhi are set to begin tomorrow after permission for the route to pass through Saudi Arabian airspace was granted last month, a decision lauded by Israel’s Tourism ministry as a “marketing revolution.”
“I am pleased that the great efforts we made with Air India over the last two years are bearing fruit and a direct route from New Delhi to Israel has now opened,” Minister of Tourism, Yariv Levin said in a press release published on Wednesday.
The new route, scheduled to operate thrice a week was announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last July and will see journey duration reduced by two hours. The flight will now take as long as the journey from Tel Aviv to London, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out.
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Netanyahu first suggested in January that the route could pass over Saudi Arabia but Riyadh has no official ties with Tel Aviv and Israel’s national carrier El Al currently takes a detour over the Red Sea on its India service to avoid Saudi and Iranian airspace.
El Al already sent an official notice at the start of March to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) demanding equal rights to fly over Saudi airspace, calling Saudi Arabia’s policy discriminatory, in violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention).
Riyadh has maintained public silence on Israeli hints of covert ties with the kingdom. However, Netanyahu told reporters in Washington earlier this month that Air India had reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia for the route.
Diplomatic ties between Israel and India have grown ever closer. Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel last year and in January of this year Netanyahu, was the first Israeli leader to visit the subcontinent in 15 years. Both leaders have since advocated for greater investment, technology cooperation, tourism growth and closer defense ties.
PRAKASH SINGH (AFP)
“The new route will contribute to an increase in tourist traffic from India, which is enjoying significant upward momentum.” Minister Levin said in his press release. “The opening of the route is part of the marketing revolution that I am leading in the ministry, that has brought record numbers of incoming tourists to Israel.”
In 2018, the upward momentum in tourist traffic from India has increased, with a 33% increase in incoming tourism in Jan-Feb 2018 on the same period last year and 54% on the same period in 2016, according to figures acquired by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
Having identified the significant potential in incoming tourism from India, the Tourism Ministry increased its marketing budget in India and, four years ago, opened a tourist office in Mumbai to promote Israel as a tourism destination. The ministry said that it is working to bring a forcasted 80,000 to 100,000 tourists from Indian within the next few years