EXCLUSIVE: Inside Israel’s new Ramon Airport, which will be completed in just a few months.

Israel’s new Ramon Airport looks just stunning, and Tourist Israel was able to enjoy an exclusive tour of the impressive new facility, 18 km of Eilat in the Arava Valley. Set to be completed in early 2019, the airport will replace both Ovda Airport (currently serving international low-cost and charter flights) and Eilat Airport (serving domestic flights), as a new airport for Eilat, Southern Israel, and the Red Sea.

The new Ramon Airport will have an initial capacity for more than 1.8 million passengers a year, with room to grow significantly, meaning it can absorb the traffic of both airports it is replacing with ease and still have room to absorb extra capacity. This is handy because the increased interest in flights to Eilat following the cancelation of landing fees, taxes, and introduction of subsidises, has brought Ryanair to fly from 10 European cities, as well as flights with Wizz Air, Lufthansa, Finnair, Transavia, Air Europa, Rossiya, Ural, and rumors of the interest of many other airlines including easyJet, British Airways, and more.

The first test flight landed at the new Ramon Airport on September 5, 2017, with the airport’s first expected opening in early 2019.