Ramon Airport ( he, נמל התעופה רמון,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

: مطار رامون) , named after

Ilan Ilan may refer to: Organization * ILAN, Israeli umbrella organization for the treatment of disabled children Given name * Ilan (name), a Hebrew/Israeli name * Ilan Bakhar, a retired Israeli footballer * Ilan Araújo Dall'Igna, a Brazilian footbal ...

and Asaf Ramon and unofficially also known as Eilat-Ramon Airport, is an international airport located in the

Timna Valley The Timna Valley (תִּמְנָע, ) is located in southern Israel in the southwestern Arava/Arabah, approximately north of the Gulf of Aqaba and the city of Eilat. The area is rich in copper ore and has been mined since the 5th millennium ...

in southern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Ramon Airport is the second busiest in Israel (after Ben Gurion Airport) and has replaced the former Eilat Airport and Ovda Airport for civilian traffic. It also serves as the primary

diversion airport Diversion airports are airports capable of handling a particular ETOPS ETOPS () is an acronym for ''Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards''—a special part of flight rules for one-engine-inoperative flight conditions. The I ...

in Israel. The airport is located north of Eilat, next to Be'er Ora. Unlike the previous airport in Eilat, it has ample ramp space and a longer runway, which allows large aircraft to land and park. The airport was originally due to open in April 2017, but the opening was pushed back and the airport opened on January 21, 2019. The Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair inaugurated the first international flight service with a Boeing 737–800 from Poznan,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, on March 4, 2019.

History

Background

Eilat Airport was established in 1949, when most of what would later be Eilat was empty. As the city developed, much of it was built around the airport. In the 1994 Peace Agreement between Israel and Jordan it was decided that operations would be transferred from Eilat Airport to Aqaba Airport in Jordan. The original plan was to rename Aqaba Airport as Aqaba–Eilat Peace International Airport. The agreement was never carried out, and an agreement between the two countries in March 1997, stipulated that domestic flights would continue to use Eilat Airport, whilst no further action to move international flights took place. Nonetheless, the construction of Ramon Airport angered Jordan, as this was seen by the Jordanian side as reneging on the promise of a joint airport made in the 1990s. Removing the Eilat Airport from the city center was considered necessary for further development of Eilat, as it would allow, among other things, the construction of additional hotels close to the shoreline. It would also reduce

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is ma ...

. The project is part of a larger plan to develop the city, which includes mega-projects such as moving the

Port of Eilat The Port of Eilat ( he, נמל אילת) is the only Israeli port on the Red Sea, located at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. History The Port of Eilat was declared in 1952, and constructed between 1952-56. Today it is mainly used for trad ...

to a location near the Jordanian border (for which removing the original airport is necessary), the Railway to Eilat, and upgrading the Arava Road. The airport is named in memory of the first Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who perished in the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster, and his son Assaf Ramon who died six years later when his F-16 fighter jet crashed in a training accident.

Planning and construction

The South District Planning and Construction Committee gave its approval for the project in 2003, and advanced planning was approved by the Israeli government in July 2010. Construction was authorized on July 24, 2011, before advanced planning had been completed. The project's projected cost was ₪1.95 billion and it was funded partly by real estate revenue from selling the Eilat Airport's land. The planning budget, approved on May 6, 2010, was ₪56 million. There was a plan to make the airport a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project, but the

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(IAA) objected, and the government authorized it to plan and oversee the project. Despite this, it was estimated that if the IAA took on the funding completely on its own, it would go bankrupt and default on its debts. Danya Cebus was selected to build the passenger terminal. The terminal was planned to feature a

duty-free shop A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...

, a feature which was not present in Eilat Airport as Eilat Airport virtually only saw

domestic flight A domestic flight is a form of commercial flight within civil aviation where the departure and the arrival take place in the same country. Airports serving domestic flights only are known as domestic airports. Domestic flights are generally c ...

s. Mer Group was selected to provide command and control for the airport, including CCTV and perimeter protection. In May 2013, the cornerstone was laid in a ceremony attended by government officials and members of the Ramon family. Construction began two weeks later. The first test flight and landing in the airport took place on September 5, 2017. In January 2019, Jordan objected to Israel's opening of the airport, arguing that operation of the airport threatens the kingdom's airspace. Ovda Airport which was built as a military airbase and is still used for that purpose had become the main airport for

international flight An international flight is a form of commercial flight within civil aviation where the departure and the arrival take place in different countries. Regular international passenger air service began in August 1919 with a flight going from Lond ...

s to Southern Israel in the 2010s, as the facilities at Eilat Airport did not allow for the operation of larger and heavier planes. After Eilat Ramon Airport opened, Ovda was closed to civilian traffic.

Facilities

The airport is located north of Eilat. Aside from Highway 90, it may also someday be reachable from the center of the country and Eilat via a proposed high-speed rail line and a light rail line that will connect it to the city. A bus terminal and a

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...

facility was built next to the airport at a cost ₪400 million. The bus terminal will replace the Eilat Central Bus Station. When the airport opened in 2019, the new bus station was not completed, and shuttle services are available for passengers to connect from the airport to the city of Eilat. All in all, the airport will be able to handle 2 million passengers a year. The airport features a runway and has eight remote-parking stands for large aircraft and nine for

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

airplanes. The land area of the airport covers , and the main terminal building is . It has the world's tallest anti-missile fence tall and long.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Ramon Airport:

Statistics

References

External links

Official websiteMemorial web site for Ilan Ramon – The First Israeli AstronautRenders
at the Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety website
Plans
at the

Israel Land Administration The Israel Land Administration (ILA; he, מנהל מקרקעי ישראל, Minhal Mekarka'ei Yisra'el; ar, مديرية أراضي اسرائيل) is an Israeli government authority responsible for managing land in Israel which is in the public d ...

website
Show Ramon Airport construction site in Openstreetmap
{{authority control Airports in Israel Airports established in 2019 Eilat 2019 establishments in Israel