The IDF confirms to "Israel Today" that permanent personnel and soldiers will not be allowed to fly over Saudi Arabia and Oman, on their way to destinations in the East. The meaning of the decision is that IDF soldiers and permanent personnel will now have great difficulty reaching destinations in the East, including Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, India, parts of China , Seychelles and other destinations in the Far East.
With the approval of the Omanis, the airlines that will operate direct flights from Israel to those countries in Asia are expected to change the existing long routes that currently do not pass over Saudi Arabia and Oman, to a short and convenient route over them.
But as mentioned, many Israelis who will not be able to benefit from this are IDF soldiers.
Flights from Europe are also prohibited
In checking the routes of the foreign airlines that fly to Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and many other destinations in the East, we found that even the flights from France, Germany, England and other European countries pass through countries over which military personnel are not allowed to fly, such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran and other countries.
This means that even a long connection through Europe will not really help the IDF personnel in this case.
The new flight path over Saudi Arabia,
On top of that, Israeli military personnel are not allowed to fly to Turkey, so flying to and from Turkey on a connection to the east is also prohibited.
The sky is closing
This leaves the Israeli military personnel in a problematic situation, as soon they will not be able to fly to most of the countries of the East, after El Al and the other airlines that fly from Israel to the East will also choose to fly the short route, which, as mentioned, passes through Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Oman has not yet approved flights to and from Israel over its territory for most airlines.
The CEO of El Al, Dina Ben Tal, said in response to "Israel Today"'s question on the subject that she estimates that this will happen in the coming days.
IDF soldiers will not be allowed to fly over Oman and Saudi Arabia, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Those who already fly over Saudi Arabia are Arkia and Air Seychelles to Seychelles, on a route that does not require flying over Oman, which means that Israeli military personnel will not be able to fly to Seychelles as well.
Air India has been operating flights to India over Saudi Arabia for several years now, due to a special permit given to it.
Cathay Pacific has also already started flying over Oman and Saudi Arabia, so flying with the Hong Kong company is not possible for IDF soldiers on a regular basis.
The flight will be significantly shorter
It is important to remember that military personnel are not allowed to fly today to the Emirates, Bahrain, Turkey and other places.
The meaning of the decision is that dozens of countries around the world will be almost closed to Israeli military personnel, even if in practice they are allowed to land there, including: Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and certain areas in china
The flights over Saudi Arabia and Oman are expected to shorten the flight time to Thailand by about two hours, to Australia by about three hours, to Singapore by about two and a half hours and to India by about two hours.
A flight to Mumbai will take only about five and a half hours, a flight to Bangkok will take about nine hours.
The short route is expected to save the airlines quite a bit of money: lower fuel expenses, fewer working hours for the crews and freeing up the planes for more flights.
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