Israel today (21 January) opened a new $500 million airport – Eilat Ramon Airport – which will replace two existing capacity-stretched airports in Eilat – Eilat City Airport and Ovda Airport.
The Ramon Airport can handle up to two million passengers a year intially with future expansion allowing capacity of up to 4.2 million passengers by the year 2030.
All domestic flights to the old Eilat City Airport from Tel Aviv and Haifa have moved to the new Eilat Ramon Airport, whilst the airport also handles low-cost and charter flights from Europe which currently land in Ovda Airport, including flights from Ryanair, WizzAir, easyJet, Transavia, SAS, Finnair, Edelweiss, and Ural Airlines.
Ryanair is expected to base several aircraft at the new airport and grow this hub into a focus city on their European route network.
The airport’s apron has space for nine widebody aircraft and for four turboprop aircraft and has capacity and also has facilities for cargo and freight operations.
Ramon Airport is 18 km north of Eilat in southern Israel on the border with Jordan. Due to its location at the head of the Red Sea, the Ramon Airport will also be a gateway for southern Jordan including to Aqaba and Wadi Rum and Petra, as well as the Taba area of Sinai, in Egypt.
