El Al Israel Airlines has appealed to the United Nations over a bid to reroute its services between Tel Aviv and India through Saudi Arabian airspace.

Air India said on Wednesday it planned to begin thrice-weekly nonstop flights from Delhi to Tel Aviv this month via Saudi airspace. This route, shorter than the alternatives, has so far been off limits to all Israel-bound commercial planes.

The Israeli flag carrier's CEO, Gonen Usishkin, said in a letter to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a U.N. body, it would be discriminatory for the Saudis to allow Air India to enter its airspace and not El Al.