The new air route will be at a rate of four frequencies per week initially, to quickly increase to five flights per week.

The first Royal Air Maroc flight connecting Casablanca and Tel Aviv landed at Ben Gurion airport on  Sunday, a flight described as “historic” by Abdelhamid Addou, CEO of the Moroccan national airline.

” This new route will be a factor of rapprochement between our peoples, that’s our main objective,’’ he said.

He added that these direct flights between the countries will facilitate travel for families and the business community which has established an “unprecedented partnership in economic and commercial areas, which is very promising for the future.’’

For this inaugural flight, a Moroccan delegation consisting of economic operators and personalities from the world of culture made the trip, to participate in a series of economic and cultural meetings with their Israeli counterparts.

The effective launch of this new air route will be at a rate of four frequencies per week initially, to quickly increase to five flights per week.

Israel and Morocco restored their relations under the 2020 US-backed Abraham Accords normalizing ties between the Jewish state and several Arab countries.

Israeli airlines launched flights to Morocco’s Marrakesh last July, although they were suspended in late November because of coronavirus travel curbs.

Morocco is counting on 200,000 visitors from Israel, many of whose 700,000-strong Jewish community of Moroccan origins have retained close cultural links.