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Relationships between countries in the Middle East have always been tumultuous, particularly between Israel and Muslim-majority countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. Because Israel is enclosed on 3 sides by countries with less-than-perfect diplomatic links, air travel from Tel Aviv (the largest city in the country) to Asian countries like India is particularly challenging. Tensions rest deeper than just political discourse, and extend to impacting normal private business operations, such as the national airline of Israel – El Al. Until recently, flights from Tel Aviv to India were required to take a circuitous route around “unfriendly” countries to reach their final destinations. Recent improvements in diplomatic relations have improved this significantly.
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts about this map
Access to Saudi and Omani airspace reduces travel by 2 hours
Recent improvements in relationships between Israel and its Middle Eastern counterparts Saudi Arabia and Oman reduced air travel time by about 2 hours for flights between Israel and India. Previously, flights were required to travel over international waters to reach India thus bypassing Saudi-controlled airspace, with a total flight time of over 8 hours.
El Al was at a disadvantage to Air India before the new route was approved
While El Al, the national airline of Israel, was subjected to closed airspace restrictions, Air India was not because it is not an Israeli-owned business. Much of the traffic between Israel and India is to either Mumbai or New Delhi and originates due to business connections with companies like Israel Aircraft Industries, Rafael Air Defense Systems, Elbit Systems and Amdocs. These companies apparently maintain contracts with Air India due to the direct routing to New Delhi vs. the connection route on El Al via Mumbai.
It seems that currently there are no directly flights on El Al between Israel and India
Despite a recent thawing of relationships between the governments of Israel and Middle Eastern countries, there does not seem to be any direct flights on El Al between Tel Aviv and Mumbai/Delhi as presented on the map (from searching Flight Aware). This may be due to COVID-19 or seasonal demand. Travelers between the countries have to fly on Air India (which is allowed to fly unrestricted over Saudi and Emirati airspace) from Tel Aviv to Delhi.
Additional links and sources
- Unfair advantages of Air India vs. el Al (link, published in 2018)
- Article about first El Al flight over Saudi Arabia (link, published in 2018)
- First Israeli flight actually langing in Saudi Arabia (link, published in 2021)
- Background on arguments that El Al makes about unfair flight paths (link, published in 2018)
Have you ever flown from Israel to an Asian country on a long, circuitous flight path?
See other places around the world Globe Charting has featured!
Including other flight path & aviation-specific posts: ORD Expansion and DCA Perimeter Rules!
