For the first time ever a commercial flight headed to Israel passed over Saudi Arabian airspace, as Air India’s inaugural New Delhi-Tel Aviv flight was tracked over the Gulf Kingdom, Reuters reported Thursday.

While Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel and the two nations have no formal diplomatic relations, the permission for the Tel Aviv-bound flight to overfly the desert kingdom suggests that there could be a thawing of ties between the two nations.

Air India flight 139 was tracked over Saudi Arabia at 4:45 PM Greenwich Mean Time on Thursday by Flightradar.

https://twitter.com/AviMayer/status/976870068494700545

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Air India would inaugurate the direct flight last year during his historic visit to Israel. Earlier this year Air India announced that it had been granted permission for its plan to overfly Saudi Arabia, cutting two and a half hours of travel time.

According to Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Singapore Airlines and an unidentified Filipino airline are considering asking Saudi Arabia for permission to plan routes to Israel that overfly Saudi airspace.

[Photo: Eluveitie / WikiCommons]