Use of Saudi Airspace Cuts Hong Kong-to-Tel Aviv Flight by an Hour
If a picture is worth a thousand words, these two maps are worth many thousands of kilometers in the air, hours of time, dollars spent, and kilograms of greenhouse gas emitted.
The top image shows the flight path of Cathay Pacific airline flight CX 675 from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv on August 1. The flight takes a northerly route across China and Kazakhstan before heading back south across the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey, finally arriving in Israel 10 hours and 56 minutes later.
The lower image shows the flight path of the same Cathay Pacific flight today, when CX 675 became the first commercial flight to cross through Saudi Arabian airspace on its way to Tel Aviv since the kingdom announced it would open its airspace to flights from all countries, including though not specifically mentioning Israel.
Total flight time using the new route was 9 hours and 56 minutes, a full hour less than before.
The new route is still somewhat circuitous; a direct flight following the shortest path would cross Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq. But the ability to use Saudi airspace means a significantly shorter flight, saving time and money and reducing the flight’s carbon footprint.
