Israel carriers may soon fly to Turkey under new aviation deal

Israel and Turkey on Thursday signed a new bilateral civil aviation agreement, their first since 1951, as part of a recent warming of diplomatic ties, allowing Israeli carriers to resume flights to Turkey after a 15-year absence. "The agreement is expected to result in the resumption of flights by Israeli companies to a variety of destinations in Turkey, alongside flights by Turkish companies to Israel," Israel's Transportation Ministry said. It said that the deal stemmed from "constructive negotiations in recent weeks and constitutes an important milestone in advancing bilateral relations." Earlier this week, Israel said it would reopen its economic and trade office in Turkey after both governments expelled ambassadors in 2018 while often trading barbs over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel and Turkey are now looking to restore representation to ambassador level. Israeli carriers have not flown commercially to Turkey since 2007, while Turkish carriers flew as many as 16 flights a day to Israel pre-COVID. El Al had long complained to government officials that this was discriminatory towards Israeli airlines. "This is very good news," said an El Al spokesman. "We have an intention to fly commercial flights to Istanbul."<br/>