December 3 - An important and historic agreement was made between IAI and Gulf Air in Bahrain. It came as Bahrain's Minister of trade was in Israel with a delegation of some 40 people for three days this week.
"IAI's Aviation Group has entered a Line Maintenance agreement with Bahrain’s airline Gulf Air. The agreement was inked at a festive ceremony in Israel, attended by Gulf Air Acting CEO, Captain Waleed Abdulhameed Al Alawi, and IAI EVP and General Manager of Aviation Group, Yosef (Yossi) Melamed, during a visit by a delegation from the Kingdom of Bahrain," the statement says. Read it here. “We took pride in carrying the official delegation that initiated the historic relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and State of Israel," said Gulf Air Acting CEO, Captain Waleed Abdulhameed Al Alawi. It is a paving the way for new business relations.
Estimates put non-defense trade possibilities at some $200 million according to new reports. Hundreds of Israeli companies are already involved or looking to be involved in this potential trade with Bahrain and the UAE. Bahrain trade could reach $350 million. Gulf Air may be soon have flights as well. There could soon be a Bahrain embassy in Israel.
IAI EVP and General Manager of Aviation Group, Yosef (Yossi) Melamed, said, “The agreement with Gulf Air is a historic breakthrough for providing line maintenance services to the gulf states as well," while Boaz Levy, the new IAI President and CEO said “IAI sees the normalization between both countries as an opportunity for business and technology partnerships and this agreement is the first in many more to come.” IAI, Rafael and Group 42 in the UAE signed an agreement over the summer to work against Covid-19. IAI is Israel's major aerospace company. Israel defense companies are expected to be at IDEX in the UAE in February 2021.
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