Big news from Israel: Ilan and Asaf Ramon International Airport, catering to the Red Sea resort city of Eilat and the surrounding region, has officially opened. Commissioned by the Israel Airport Authority, the project was completed by Amir Mann-Ami Shinar Architects and Planners in collaboration with Moshe Zur Architects. Located in Timna, it is Israel's first civil airport built from scratch.
Spanning over 1,200 acres, the airport has a minimalist and futuristic design in the center of Negev Desert. Situated just over 11 miles north of Eilat, the Ilan and Asaf Ramon International Airport is designated to influence local and international tourism to Israel, Jordan and Egypt's Sinai Desert.
It is expected to handle up to two million passengers a year with an expansion allowing for more than four million passengers by 2030. All domestic flights to the old Eilat City Airport from Tel Aviv and Haifa will now move to the new Ilan and Asaf Ramon International Airport, while the airport will also begin handling low-cost and charter flights from Europe that currently land in Ovda Airport, including flights from Ryanair, WizzAir, easyJet, Transavia, SAS, Finnair, Edelweiss and Ural Airlines.
Facilities include a duty-free store, foreign exchange, information, and transportation services.
The Ilan and Asaf Ramon International Airport was was a “greenfield" without existing infrastructures, which included the creation and implementation of navigation, landing, and baggage handling systems, runways, and operational buildings.
The airport has an 11-acre (nearly 500,000-square-foot) passenger terminal building and two-mile-long runway and taxiway, alongside 40 aprons, allowing for domestic and international traffic. The two support structures to the north and south of the terminal measure a combined nine acres with a 150-foot-high air control tower.
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