A flight to Dubai carrying the crew of a top Israeli was delayed Sunday after Saudi Arabia failed to give permission to use its airspace.
The flight was meant to transport a production team for the Survivor reality show to Dubai, from where they were to head to the Philippines, and had been scheduled to leave Ben-Gurion International Airport at 7 am.
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Passengers at Ben-Gurion Airport wait for their flight to Dubai after Saudi Arabia stalled on approval to use its airspace
A source told Ynet that discussions were underway to secure the Saudi permission.
Saudi Arabia began allowing Israel to use its air space last year, when Israel signed normalization deals with the UAE and Bahrain.
The Foreign Ministry and the Civil Aviation Authorities were dealing this "sensitive and complex matter," the source said. "We filed our request and are waiting for an answer."
The source also said that the delay was not linked to the ongoing feud with Jordan, which led to the cancellation of a recent flight by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Abu Dhabi.
On Thursday, Amman reportedly refused to allow Netanyahu to use Jordanian airspace to attend a meeting with de factor Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Netanyahu said Saturday that the UAE trip was actually cancelled after he was deterred from flying instead via Saudi airspace due to of a threat of missile fire from Iranian proxies based in Yemen, who have frequently attacked targets in Saudi Arabia.
Rather than bypass Jordanian airspace and take a more southerly route across Saudi skies, Netanyahu told Channel 13 television that, “There were also problems a week ago in the skies of Saudi Arabia.”
Netanyahu did not elaborate, nor did he say his plane was targeted by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The prime minister insisted that relations between Jordan and Israel were positive, adding that “Jordan needs good relations with us no less than we need good relations with Jordan.”
The Jordanian refusal to grant permission to use its airspace came after Jordan's crown prince Hussein bin Abdullah on Wednesday canceled a visit to Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem when Israel refused to allow dozens of his armed security to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which is under Jordanian custodianship.
"By the time we sorted things out with the Jordanians," Netanyahu said, "it was too late to fly, and we had to cancel the visit."
Israeli officials claimed the Jordanians violated earlier agreements about the crown prince's security and when the visit.
The Prime Minister's Office had blamed the Jordanians for the fact that Netanyahu was unable to travel to the Gulf state.