Bahrain airline to launch direct flights to Tel Aviv

Gulf Air, Bahrain’s state-owned airline, is launching direct flights to Tel Aviv in June, another marker in the country’s ongoing normalisation of ties with Israel.

Globes, an Israeli business daily, first reported on Sunday that flights would start on June 3. Gulf Air signed a code-sharing agreement with El Al, Israel’s national carrier in December.

Israel signed normalisation agreements with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring Arab countries last year.

El Al has been flying to Dubai since August and Etihad, the UAE carrier, has been flying to Israel since February.