Canada’s shifting geopolitical alliances are neatly encapsulated by a 14-hour flight.

A direct link between Calgary and Abu Dhabi opened this week, connecting western Canada with the Persian Gulf nation for the first time. Etihad Airways has begun flying four days a week on a route billed as establishing closer ties between two energy superpowers: the United Arab Emirates capital was built out of the desert on the back of oil production, and Calgary is the financial capital of Canada’s oil patch.

It’s part of an intensive push in the last year from Prime Minister Mark Carney to increase trade ties and investment between the two countries in a bid to diversify trade away from the US. Tensions between the neighbors have driven Carney to search for new trading partners and reignite ties with old ones, including India and Turkey, and to explore a special relationship with the European Union.

The UAE is Canada’s top export market in the Middle East and Carney’s government wants to double annual trade to about C$7 billion ($5 billion). Carney himself visited the country late last year, the first visit from a Canadian prime minister in more than 40 years, and came back touting a pledge for the UAE to invest C$70 billion in Canada. Alberta’s government, too, has moved to grow its ties with the UAE, opening a trade office in the capital last year.

The UAE is also seeking to diversify its economy as the US-Israeli war with Iran upends regional security. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been restricted for much of the year, hindering its ability to get products to Asian and European markets. The country left the oil producer group OPEC earlier this year, in part so it could more quickly grow its capacity.

Signs of the cozy relationship are abundant. Just this week, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince was in Ottawa as he and Carney formalized a new trade deal. Investment has also picked up: Dubai’s DP World Ltd. is in talks to expand a port in northern Canada. The state-owned oil company’s investment arm, XRG, is an owner of Nova Chemicals in Alberta and is said to be exploring acquiring a stake in the LNG Canada export project in BC. And firms from the two countries have agreed to work together on sharing satellite infrastructure and improve connectivity for mobile devices.

Using Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes that can take roughly 300 passengers, Etihad said in a statement that the flight opens up more business and tourism travel to destinations across western Canada and, in the opposite direction, to India, Africa and the Middle East.

Mini Varghese, a passenger on the first flight to Abu Dhabi, was visiting her father in the hospital in southern India. The flight made it possible to see him sooner and is something her family plans to use more often, saving additional layovers in Vancouver or Toronto. “This is very easy for us now,” she said.

A key to making the route happen was a different approach in the Carney government’s strategy around awarding new international flights, said Chris Dinsdale, chief executive officer of Calgary’s airport. While in the past new routes would be open to any airport in Canada, increasing competition with the major hubs in Toronto and Montreal, Etihad’s destination was reserved for western Canada.

“It was the first time I’ve seen the government react to say, ‘You know what? The west also is important and it needs a special spot there.’ I think in a lot of regards it was a fresh approach that I hadn’t experienced yet,” Dinsdale said.

The timing of a direct link between the two oil giants could spur some of the investment Alberta is looking for as it plans to double oil output in the next decade. Industry analysts believe north of C$100 billion will be needed to grow production, build pipelines and a carbon capture project in the province.

“Some routes immediately feel significant, not simply because they connect two destinations, but because of the opportunities they create. Calgary is one of those routes,” Etihad Chief Executive Officer Antonoaldo Neves said in a statement.

Key to Alberta’s hopes for an energy boom will be foreign investment from likely crude buyers such as Japan, South Korea and India, but also increased cooperation with major oil-producing Persian Gulf nations.

Joseph Schow, the provincial minister of trade, was on the first flight to Abu Dhabi ahead of attending the city’s marquee energy conference next week. “There is a lot of investment potential coming from the UAE,” he said in an interview, adding that the flight strengthened ties with the country and showed “investor confidence” in Alberta.