JERUSALEM, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel's leading airline El Al on Thursday resumed commercial flights to Türkiye after 16 years of suspension.

The flight, operated by El Al's subsidiary Sun d'Or, took off from Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv and landed after about two hours at Istanbul Airport.

El Al said in a statement that the renewal of the route, which includes four weekly return flights, was made possible due to the warming relations between Israel and Türkiye, and the growing demand from Israelis.

Israeli airlines halted flights to Türkiye in March 2007 due to high-security expenses.

Since then, only Türkiye's airlines flew on routes between the two countries. In mid-February, Israir became the first Israeli airline to resume commercial passenger flights to Türkiye, launching a route between Tel Aviv and Istanbul.