Etihad Airways and El Al are planning to establish a partnership. The national airlines of the United Arab Emirates and Israel have signed a letter of intent for code-sharing on flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv and their mutual global route networks.
The Memorandum of Understanding, signed ‘virtually’ by Etihad CEO Tony Douglas and El Al CEO Gonen Usishkin also provides collaboration in air freight, maintenance, loyalty programmes, destination management and the use of training facilities for pilots and cabin crew.
Since the UAE and Israel first established diplomatic ties last summer, there are also opportunities for aviation cooperation. El Al carried out the very first passenger flight between the two countries at the end of September. Last month, the first Etihad passenger flight also landed on Israeli soil.
Regular air traffic is also being set up quickly. Flydubai will open a scheduled service between Dubai and Tel Aviv this month. Etihad announced that it will open a daily scheduled service between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv on March 28th, 2021.