The new $470m Greenfield Eilat Illan and Assaf Ramon Airport handled it first arriving and departing flights to and from from Tel Aviv yesterday (4 February), following the official inauguration of the new facility on 21 January, TRBusiness can confirm. 

Back in May 2017, Israel Airports Authority issued the tender for a duty free operation at the airport, which was the first domestic/international airport in Israel to be planned and constructed from top to bottom.

Participating companies were bidding for the opportunity to plan, establish and operate stores selling duty free wines, spirits, tobacco perfumes and cosmetics, confectionery and other goods. These include electronics and consumer drug store supplies.

TENDER TRIUMPH

The tender was won by JR/Duty Free, which was awarded the contract for one main duty free store, a last-minute shop and landside tax free outlet. Its domestic tax and duty paid business is now operational, TRBusiness has learned.

Domestic and international passengers will ultimately mix in the same hall, so the new airport, which will handle around 1.8m pax in the first year, is effectively combining Eilat domestic airport in the centre of the city and Ovda International Airport in the North, both of which will eventually close.

At present, Ramon Airport is handling Israir and Arkia Israel Airlines flights to and from Haifa in the North and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion (international) and Sde Dov (domestic) Airports.

It is understood that international carriers such as Ryanair, Wizz Air, Lufthansa, Air Europa, Transavia, Ural Airlines, Edelweiss and Finnair will begin operations on 1 April, when flights from Ovda Airport are moved over to Ramon.

Destinations covered will include, Berlin, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, London, Krakow, Kaunas, Prague, Riga and Sofia.

A source close to the project told TRBusiness: “Before shutting down Eilat Airport, we are going to have domestic flights going through once a week for the next week three weeks. The exact date for the start of international flights is 1 April, but we may have some even sooner to help check our systems.”