History was made when an Etihad Airways commercial flight landed at Ben Gurion at 7 a.m. on Monday morning, the first Gulf State commercial airline to land in Israel.

The 787 Dreamliner returned to Abu Dhabi a few hours later, at 10 a.m. Monday carrying a delegation of Israeli tourism representatives who were invited by Etihad Airways and the UAE to meet with their Emirati counterparts.

The Israeli tourism representatives, including businesspeople, travel agents and cargo agents, accompanied by journalists, will return to Israel on Wednesday, October 21.

טיסה מסחרית של חברת התעופה הלאומית של אבו דאבי "איתיחאד" נחתה בנתב"ג. זוהי חברת התעופה הראשונה מבין מדינות המפרץ שנוחתת בישראל@sharonidan https://t.co/bOV05L5bbM pic.twitter.com/g728ZOB3SG

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On the background of the historic flight, Israel signed an agreement with the UAE allowing 28 flights per week between Israel and Abu Dhabi and Dubai, to begin in the coming weeks. The agreement also includes ten cargo flights a week and unlimited charter flights from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, near Eilat.

The agreement is expected to be signed Tuesday by Prime Minister Netanyahu during a ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport.

Etihad Airways launched a website in Hebrew last week in order to better serve potential Israeli customers, the first non-Israeli airline to do so.

“This is a historic and exciting day for the state of Israel and represents the beginning of an economic boom with new markets and the opening of the skies to new exciting destinations,” Transportation Minister Miri Regev said.

“I want to thank all the professional organizations in the Transportation Ministry, Israel Airports Authority and Civil Aviation Authority that brought this agreement to completion in record time and wish success to all the Israeli airlines that will establish new routes to Abu Dhabi and Dubai as well as to other countries in the Gulf in the future.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)