EgyptAir to launch direct flights between Tel Aviv and Cairo

EgyptAir, the state-owned flag carrier of Egypt, will start operating direct flights between Tel Aviv and Cairo next month. Officials confirmed in March of Egypt's interest in having its national airline operate regular direct flights to and from Israel. The airline is expected to fly the route four times a week beginning in October after the Jewish holiday of Sukkot concludes. Currently, the only flights between Ben Gurion Airport and Cairo International Airport are operated discreetly by Air Sinai, a subsidiary of EgyptAir. The Air Sinai flights are unmarked without the Egyptian flag. Air Sinai was established in 1982 under the terms of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty which stipulated that there must be active civilian aviation routes between the two countries. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet on Monday for talks in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in a sign of warming relations between the two countries.<br/>