The opening of airspace over Saudi Arabia for flights to and from Israel for all airlines is a game changer

The announcement, which looks like a laconic announcement, changes the rules of the game and opens the State of Israel to huge tourist potential.

The opening of the airspace will shorten the flight times by an average of two hours, reduce the cost of aircraft fuel, lead to great competition and reduce the cost of flying cargo.

Yossi Fischer

15/07/2022

Friday, 15 July 2022, 10:11 Updated: 11:28

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At 02:00 in the morning, the Saudi airline announced the opening of Saudi Arabia's flights to and from Israel.

The Saudis issued the announcement without specific reference to foreign or Israeli airlines.

The announcement, which looks like a laconic announcement by the Saudi Arabian Civil Aviation Administration, actually changes the rules of the game and opens the State of Israel to huge tourist potential.

It is true that the Saudi decision should be seen in a much broader context than the opening of air corridors over Saudi Arabia.

In the last decade, the Asian continent, the most populous continent in the world, has also become the largest exporter of tourism in the world.

The State of Israel has signed but not implemented aviation agreements with a large number of countries in Asia.

The agreements stipulate the quantities of weekly flights, and airlines authorized on behalf of the states to operate these flights.

Quite a few of these agreements have not been implemented due to the lack of economic viability for the airlines to fly a long route along the Red Sea and half of the Indian Ocean.

The announcement will change the rules of the game (Photo: Reuters)

The route of the direct flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia, where US President Biden will benefit July 15, 2022 (Photo: Official website, Walla!)

A partial list of countries with which Israel has signed aviation agreements and no direct flights:

• Japan (El Al planned and even marketed flights to Tokyo but the line was canceled due to the outbreak of the corona plague)

• Vietnam

• Australia

• Singapore

• Thailand (EL AL flies but Thai companies led by Thai Airlines have chosen not to fly and take seats on EL AL flights)

• Korea (Korean Airlines flew in the past but closed the route due to lack of economic viability)

• Australia (El Al operated one test flight to Melbourne and planned to operate a route there)

• New Zealand

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Saudi Arabia (Photo: ShutterStock, Shutterstock)

Shortening flight times by about two hours on average makes many lines economical.

This is a significant reduction in the cost of aircraft fuel, which is a key component in the price of airline tickets.

The fuel component is about 35% of the cost of the flight.

The significant rise in world fuel prices following the end of the closures due to the corona and ambiguity imposed by the West on the purchase of fuel from Russia has significantly raised flight prices.

Consumer news for Israeli travelers and tourists from the East

The entry of many airlines to airlines to Israel will lead to great and significant competition for passengers and flight prices have fallen accordingly.

My estimate is that long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights will be discounted by as much as $ 300 per ticket.

Taking Tokyo as an example: Direct flight prices will range from $ 800 to $ 1,000.

Bangkok between $ 600-700, Manila on the order of $ 800 for a round trip flight.

It should be taken into account that the prices of flights with Connexion will also be reduced below the prices of direct flights in the order of: 15% -20%

Cargo traffic

It should be noted that this is not only passenger traffic but also cargo flying.

Before the Corona Age about 70% of the world's cargo traffic was carried by passenger planes.

During the Corona, due to the restrictions on the transition from country to country, a lot of dedicated cargo planes were operated, but today the cargo returns to the passenger planes.

Israel's imports and exports to Asia and Asia are growing impressively from year to year.

The reduction in air transport prices should roll into the pocket of the Israeli consumer.

Whether this practice will materialize depends mainly on the goodwill of the importers.

WIN-WIN

Opening the skies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to flights to Israel and from there also works in the other direction.

Flights to and from Saudi Arabia will now be able to use the air corridors over Israel.

So far the flights from Saudi Arabia to the west (Europe and North America) have passed over Jordan and continued over Syria and Lebanon and now the planes will be able to shorten the range by about 20-30 minutes.

In recent years, the Saudis have been investing an unimaginable sum of about $ 750 billion in the development of tourism and aviation infrastructure for the kingdom, all as part of the vision of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman "Saudi Arabia" 2030.

In the past month, the Saudis have announced investments of about $ 150 billion in the development of Saudi aviation and in the creation of a network of international airlines direct to and from the kingdom.

The Saudis also announced grants to 100,000 Saudi students for tourism and hotel studies at the best academic institutions in Western Europe and North America.

They are not going big but huge on the issue of tourism to the kingdom.

Every year, thousands of Israeli citizens go to Mecca in Saudi Arabia (Photo: AP)

An important message for Muslim citizens

Although the Saudi announcement did not address the issue of direct flights between Ben Gurion Airport and Saudi Arabia, it should be noted that the issue of direct flights in the form of charters has been closed.

Every year thousands of Israeli citizens travel to Saudi Arabia on flights via Amman and in the past also through Istanbul.

Those

who

could not afford flights traveled all the way from Israel to Mecca via Jordan in a matter of days on the road.

On direct flights from Ben Gurion Airport.

There is still the issue of visas but I estimate that this issue will be closed in the coming weeks.

"This train has already set off."

A direct flight from Ben Gurion Airport to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia will only take two hours so it can be estimated that the pricing of these flights will not be expensive which will lead to high demand for flights.

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