Gulf Air has commenced a commercial service between Bahrain and Tel Aviv.

Flight GF972 took off from Bahrain International Airport at 10:40 on Thursday and arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv later this same day.

The inaugural flight carried officials from Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority, the National Communications Centre and members of the executive management from the airline.

The flight is the start of two weekly services between Bahrain and Israel, deploying the newest Airbus fleet operated by the national carrier of Bahrain.

During an arrival event at Ben Gurion Airport, Gulf Air acting chief executive, Waleed Al Alawi, said: “Today we are making history by connecting the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Israel with scheduled commercial flights.

“We welcome our friends in Israel to fly on Gulf Air and visit Bahrain and fly beyond to our extended network.

“The double weekly flights are just the start, and we will periodically assess the commercial performance to upgrade frequencies whenever feasible and required.”

Back in December, Gulf Air signed five commercial agreements with five different Israeli aviation-related companies.

These included a comprehensive memorandum for a potential joint codeshare and commercial cooperation with El Al, a general sales agent agreement with TAL Aviation and a line maintenance agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries, among others.