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Etihad to start daily Tel Aviv flights in 2021

Air travel is a major part of the newly established relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

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An Etihad Airways plane carrying a delegation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a first official visit lands at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, on Oct. 20, 2020. — ACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Etihad Airways will start daily flights to Israel in 2021, the Abu-Dhabi based airline has announced. The news is the latest indication of the steadily deepening relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following their normalization deal.

Etihad will begin daily, year-round flights to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv starting in March, according to a Monday press release.

The UAE’s flagship airline said the flights aim to increase both Emiratis visiting Israel and Israelis visiting the Emirates. The routes will also be timed to link up with Etihad’s connections to Thailand, India, China and Australia, which are all popular destinations for Israeli tourists.

Etihad heralded Tel Aviv as the “economic and technological center of Israel” in the release.

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