El Al resumes flights to Dubai after security crisis solved

El Al Israel Airlines has announced the resumption of all flights between Tel Aviv Ben Gurion and Dubai Int’l from March 8, 2022, following a last-minute political solution between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to a dispute over security arrangements.

“As a result, we are back to full action,” the Israeli flag carrier announced on social media. It said flights would return gradually starting on March 8 with up to three/four daily flights to Dubai.

A dispute that arose last month over airport security at Dubai had threatened a cut-off of services between the territories on March 8. However, a series of meetings in the last two weeks between the security agencies of both countries resulted in a last-minute agreement on March 4, local media reported.

Israel’s security agency Shin Bet in a statement announced that “understandings were reached and joint work principles and security arrangements agreed that will allow Israeli airline companies to return to fly to Dubai on a regular and ongoing basis”, according to news reports in Reuters, Times of Israel, Globes, and The Jerusalem Post.

Pending the agreement, the UAE recently imposed a limit of one flight a day for each Israeli airline. For its part, Israel imposed a counter limit of three flights a day for UAE airlines. Airlines affected included El Al, Israir (6H, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion), and Arkia Israeli Airlines (IZ, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion) from the Israeli side, with Emirates’ low-cost unit flydubai (FZ, Dubai Int’l) operating from Dubai, according to the ch-aviation schedules module. Flights to the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi reportedly were unaffected.

Under the landmark Abraham Accords signed in 2020 between Israel and the UAE, provisions were made for up to 42 flights a week between Tel Aviv and Dubai; and Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi Int’l, reported Globes.

El Al Chief Executive Officer El Al Abigail Shrek in a statement thanked Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet and various government ministers for solving the crisis. “We had to cancel a number of flights every day and find an alternative solution for passengers and now we can provide stable and high-level service that El Al customers expect to receive,” he said.