Netanyahu says Israeli airliners have started overflying Sudan

Israeli commercial planes have started overflying Sudan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Khartoum said on Feb. 5 it had given Israeli planes initial approval to fly over its territory, two days after Sudan's military head of state, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met Netanyahu in Uganda.

"Now we're discussing rapid normalisation. The first Israeli airplane passed yesterday over the skies of Sudan," Netanyahu said in a speech to U.S. Jewish leaders, saying the route cut some three hours off flights from Israel to South America.