Israel has officially requested that the Sudanese government allow its flights to pass through the African country’s airspace after the two parties signed an initial agreement to normalize relations, said a Sudanese senior official.
The official said the request is being reviewed and no final approval has been made.
Media had recently reported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that Israeli commercial flights have been flying over Sudanese airspace since November 8.
On Friday, Israeli media reported that two Israeli flights will pass for the first time through Sudan’s airspace to Kampala and Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
Israel’s El Al Airlines operated its first commercial flight through Sudanese airspace on Sunday, reported Yedioth Ahronoth.
The flight departed from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport to Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport. It departed Entebbe back to Israel on the same day with 153 Ugandans who will be trained on modern agricultural methods.
Commenting on the El Al flight, a Sudanese official told Asharq Al-Awsat that it may have been an exception before the official approval or rejection of the Israeli request to fly over Sudan.
The request asks that Israeli commercial jets be granted permanent approval to fly over Sudan. This includes El Al and all other Israeli airlines.
Sudan’s acting Foreign Minister Omar Qamar al-Din has previously stated that there was no reason to prevent Israel from using the Sudanese airspace.
He said Khartoum would reap financial benefits from such a move, raising its revenues from international aviation transit fees to nearly one million dollars a day.
As it stands, no Israeli plane is allowed to fly through the airspace without approval from the Foreign Ministry.
