A Royal Jordanian Boeing 787-8. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – Israel and Jordan signed a new aviation agreement Thursday, which will allow Israeli jets to fly over the neighboring kingdom, Israeli media report.

Jordanian flights, in their turn, will be able to fly through the Israeli airspace as well under a treaty between Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority and its counterpart in Jordan.

The agreement, which is reportedly coming into effect Friday, is set to cut the travel time for passengers in the region heading for the Gulf states, Asia, Europe, and North America.

The accord has been in the making for several years, with the talks greatly accelerated by the recent diplomatic developments in the region.

These include Israel’s accords to normalize ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as Saudi Arabia’s decision to open its airspace for Israeli flights.

Saudi Arabia first allowed an Israeli commercial flight through its airspace as a joint US-Israeli delegation headed to the UAE to discuss the normalization treaty.

A few days later, the kingdom announced its decision would not be limited to this specific flight, with all Israel-UAE air traffic given a green light, and in mid-September, senior White House advisor Jared Kushner said Riyadh and Bahrain agreed to open skies to all Israeli passenger flights.