June 3, 2021, should become an important date for Gulf Air, the state-owned airline of Bahrain. The country’s national carrier has started accepting bookings for its first commercial flight between Bahrein and Isreal. The historic flight will take off from Bahrain International Airport (BAH) to Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) in early June 2021.
Gulf Air has started ticket sales for its first direct commercial flight connecting Bahrain and Tel Aviv, its flight schedule shows. The airline plans to operate regular twice-weekly service with its Airbus A320neo aircraft. Ticket prices start at $565 (213.1BHD).
The new route was added to the Gulf Air network following the settlement of the Declaration of Peace, Cooperation, and Constructive Diplomatic and Friendly Relations which was signed between Bahrain and Israel back in September 2020.
The air carrier joins the list of other airlines from the region, namely Etihad Airways and Flydubai, both of which launched their services to Tel Aviv after the United Arab Emirates normalized its relations with Israel in 2020.
Gulf Air already made its first official flight from Bahrain to Israel on November 18, 2020. At the time, the airline’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was carrying several of its government officials to continue negotiations related to the recently signed peace agreement.
The special Gulf Air flight was numbered GF972 referring to Israel’s international telephone country code.