A first: Air India flies to Israel, crossing over Saudi Arabia

Air India launched a direct flight to Tel Aviv Thursday, flying over Saudi airspace and ending a decades-long ban on Israeli commercial flights over its territory.

Air India launched its direct flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv, flying over Saudi Arabian airspace and shortening flight time considerably from the circuitous route Israel's El-Al has been forced to take.

The inaugural flight took off from New Delhi at 12:30 p.m. GMT and landed in Tel Aviv at 7:45 p.m. GMT, or 9:45 p.m. local time, AFP reported.

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