Israel and Bulgaria signed an aviation agreement Monday in Sofia, their first bilateral pact since resuming diplomatic relations last year.
The signatories were Moshe Katsav, Israel’s transportation minister, and his Bulgarian counterpart, Vaselin Pavlov.
The accord opens yet another transfer point for Soviet Jewish immigrants bound for Israel.
Bulgaria’s airline, Balkan Air, will begin weekly scheduled service from Sofia to Tel Aviv next month. El Al Israel Airlines is expected to inaugurate weekly flights to Sofia in July.
El Al and Balkan Air operated reciprocal services briefly in 1966. They ended when Bulgaria severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 1967.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.