Israel's plan to shorten the flight routes to Asia, among other places, by flying over the Arabian Peninsula has met with resistance from Oman. In contrast to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and other countries, overflights are still being refused.

For decades, almost all Arab countries have denied Israeli airlines the use of their airspace. Gradually, the situation eased significantly, as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, for example, now allow overflights. But not Oman.

There is speculation in the Israeli media that Iran, which is an enemy of Israel, could have exerted massive pressure on the sultanate. He is said to have bowed to the pressure and thus prevented the normalization of diplomatic relations for the time being. This means that the possibility of making the flight routes as straight as possible is on ice for the time being.

Specifically, this will affect the (planned) El Al flights to India, Thailand, Australia and some Asian countries. These must continue to take detours. So far, it was expected that the aviation agreement with Oman would only be a mere formality, because an agreement was reached with Saudi Arabia. But it doesn't stop there.