A Gulf Air Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Photo: Steve Lynes via Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – Bahrain’s national carrier, Gulf Air, will begin operating twice-weekly flights from Israel starting on October 4, Bahrain’s former ambassador to the United States confirmed via Twitter.

Houda Nonoo said that the Tel Aviv-Manama route will take place on Mondays and Thursdays.

The announcement comes just days before the one year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House that normalized relations between the Gulf state and Israel. The US-brokered deal also included the United Arab Emirates, later adding Morocco and Sudan.

The route was initially announced in April and was originally scheduled to start on June 3 but was postponed.

“We are delighted to announce the launch of our Bahrain–Tel Aviv route as part of the historic initiation of Bahraini–Israeli relations. As the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain; we take great pride in supporting our leadership and Kingdom in their role of preserving peace and prosperity in the region,” Zayed Bin Rashid Al Zayani, chairman of Gulf Air’s board of directors, said in April.

According to the commercial aviation website Simple Flying, the 2 hours and 50 minutes flight from Bahrain International Airport will depart at 9 am local time, arriving to Tel Aviv at 11:50 am. The aircraft will then spend 3 hours and 30 minutes on the ground at Ben Gurion Airport before departing Israel at 3:30 pm and arriving back in Bahrain at 5:55 pm. The flight time for the return trip is 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Bahrain and Israel are in the same time zone — three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time — during Israel Summer Time and are separated by one hour during Israel Standard Time.