An Israeli carrier was forced on Tuesday to cancel a flight to Dubai afterfailure to obtain Saudi permission to fly through its airspace.

Israeli army radio said the passengers waited for 10 hours at Ben Gurionairport near Tel Aviv before the Israir flight was canceled.

The reason for the Saudi refusal to grant permission to the Israeli flightremains unclear. Riyadh has allowed Israeli flights to use the Saudiairspace en route to Dubai since November.

Without using Saudi airspace, flights between Israel and the United ArabEmirates (UAE) will be difficult and unsustainable, as it makes the flightperiod eight hours instead of three hours.

In December, Israir announced a flight program of two flights daily betweenIsrael and the UAE. Other Israeli carriers, including El Al, also hadsimilar flight programs.

In September 2020, the UAE and Israel signed a US-sponsored deal tonormalize their relations. Since then, the two countries have signed dozensof bilateral agreements in various fields, including investment, bankingservices, and tourism.