The new airport of the Israeli resort of Eilat will open in October 2018, Interfax-Tourism reports, citing the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).
“Today the project has reached its final stage: the control tower has already been built, and the construction of the terminal building. According to preliminary information, Ramon Airport will begin to fully operate in October 2018,” the statement said.
Eilat receives tourists through two airports. Domestic flights arrive at the airport in the city center, international flights arrive at Ovda Airport, which is 60 km from the resort (Russians fly here). According to forecasts, Ovda will serve about 400 thousand passengers this year, which is twice as many as in the same period last year.
As ATOR specifies, the new airport will mainly serve low-cost carriers and charter flights. It will not charge ground handling fees for either budget or scheduled airlines in order to attract as many carriers as possible.
Shuttles will run to Eilat, and a short railway will be built in the future. The transfer for tourists will be several times shorter, since the distance between Ramon and the resort is less than 20 km. According to Israeli aviation experts, it will take less than two weeks to transfer all international flights, including Russian ones, from Ovda to Ramon.
The total cost of building Ramon Airport is estimated at 1.7 billion shekels (about $500 million). It is planned that the airport, which will receive international status, will handle four to six flights per hour. The passenger terminal will have a capacity of 2 million passengers per year. The new air harbor will be a smaller copy of Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The facility in Eilat is being built by companies that worked on the Tel Aviv airport project.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, the Russian tourist flow to the country for 10 months of this year exceeded 336 thousand travelers, which is 47% more than for the same period last year.
Source: trn-news.ru