El Al Airlines is scheduled to operate the first commercial flight between Israel and the United Arab Emirates on Monday.
The Monday flight on a Boeing 737-800 will be numbered #LY971, referring to the UAE’s international calling code number, while a return flight to Ben-Gurion International Airport on Tuesday will be numbered #LY972, referring to Israel’s international calling code.
The first official flight between and the UAE is officially listed on the Ben Gurion Airport website!
FYI: the flight from Israel is flight number 971 (?? phone country code); the returning flight is 972 (?? phone country code)! https://t.co/R0wxvkQdAx
— Embassy of Israel (@IsraelinUSA)
The development is a result of the Aug. 13 U.S.-brokered agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the UAE.
The flight, the first official direct trip from Israel to a Gulf Arab state, will carry members of the U.S. and Israeli delegations involved in the agreement, called the “Abraham Accord.”
The American delegation will be led by White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, Mideast envoy Avi Berkowitz and U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, who is set to leave his position at the end of the month.
In a key development, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided on Sunday that there would be no Israeli security officials in the delegation, and only civil issues will be discussed at this meeting. This is probably to avoid the issue of the F-35 sale being raised while Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz are there. The pair have been pushing for the F-35 sale to the UAE, which Israel does not feel is in Israel’s best interest.
Israel would like to hold a signing ceremony in Washington by mid-September.
JewishPress.com News Desk contributed to this article.