Israel's top court advices El Al to withdraw petition against state over permission to Air India to fly over Saudi

Israel's top court has advised the national carrier to drop legal action against the state over its decision to allow Air India to fly over Saudi Arabia on the Delhi-Tel Aviv route, a move the El Al claims gives its Indian counterpart an unfair competitive edge over it, according to a media report.

The Air India flight between Delhi and Tel Aviv flies over Saudi and Omani airspace, reducing the cost and flight time significantly. Israel does not have diplomatic relations with the two Arab nations.

The High Court of Justice has urged El Al to drop the petition it filed in March this year, days after Air India's inaugural flight landed in Tel Aviv, the Calcalist reported.

El Al had filed an urgent petition to the High Court against the government, Transportation Ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority, claiming that granting the Indian airline permission to fly the route, which goes over Saudi Arabia, thus significantly reducing the cost and flight time on the NewDelhi-Tel Aviv route, gave a foreign company an unfair competitive advantage and violated the state's commitment to Israel's national carrier.

The permission by Saudi Arabia and Oman to allow Air India to fly through their airspace on the way to Tel Aviv was hailed as historic by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.

It was also projected in the Israeli media as a sign of warming ties between Israel and the Gulf countries, something that Netanyahu keeps hinting at when he talks about his country's growing acceptance worldwide under his leadership.

El Al in its petition argued that allowing Air India to cross over airspace that is closed to Israeli-owned airlines violated the 1944 ?Convention on International Civil Aviation, as well as various Israeli government decisions.

The petition also noted that in a December 1994 decision to privatise El Al, the government had said that Israeli civil aviation policy must ensure equal opportunities between Israeli airlines and foreign airlines on a competitive basis and ensure sound and fair competition.

The airline also argued that the new route also violates a bilateral agreement Israel and India signed in 2016 that obliges Jerusalem to allow El Al an equal and fair opportunity to operate the flight route between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Air India has increased its frequency of weekly flights on the route to four times a week, starting with three, amid reports that it may soon become a daily flight given the "spectacular" response.