Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed that Saudi Arabia has granted Air India permission to fly over its territory. As per reports, Air India has received authorization from the Saudi Arabian government to fly over the country on its way to and from Tel Aviv. However, there is no confirmation from either Saudi officials or Air India on this matter.

Reportedly, the announcement was made during Netanyahu’s interaction with Israeli reporters after he met US President Donald Trump at Blair House in Washington DC.

Netanyahu said the direct flight between Tel Aviv and Mumbai will take the same amount of time when traveling through Saudi airspace as it does from Tel Aviv to London – about five and a half hours.

As per a report published in Jewish Press, till now Israeli national carrier, EI AI Israel Airlines has been the only airline flying the direct route. The reason being, flying to and from Israel have until now been barred from Saudi airspace. EI AI Israel Airlines currently has four weekly flights to Mumbai and it takes seven hours as they fly south toward Ethiopia and then east to India, avoiding the Saudi airspace. It is expected that the Saudi overflight routes could reduce travel time by more than two hours.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 06, 2018 11:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).