Last Updated on December 9, 2021
The Ilan & Assaf Ramon Airport near Eilat.
A new international airport was built outside of Eilat in the Timna Valley. The Ilan & Assaf Ramon Airport, is now open and was named after Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 and his son Assaf, a fighter pilot in the Israel Air Force, who died tragically when his plane crashed during a routine training flight in September 2009.
Six weeks after its official opening, the first international flights landed in Eilat’s new Ramon Airport. The Irish low-cost carrier RyanAir operates flights, to Poznan, Poland and round-trips from Prague, Czech Republic to/from the new Eilat Ramon Airport. Wizz Air, Lufthansa, Air Europa, Transavia and Ural Airlines, Edelweiss and Finnair all operated flights to/from selected European destinations. Arkia Airlines, an Israel carrier, runs local flights from Tel Aviv to Eilat
The Ilan & Assaf Ramon Airport is intended to serve as an international gateway to southern Israel and the Red Sea, to increase tourism from Europe during the winter months as well as acting as an alternative to Israel’s main international airport – Ben Gurion Tel Aviv during times of conflict when Ben Gurion might be closed temporarily.
The Ramon Airport is located 18 kilometers north of Eilat, an Israeli Red Sea resort town, the country’s most southern city and a gateway to the Red Sea. Accessible attractions in the area great beaches, scuba diving, the Red Canyon in the Eilat Mountains, Timna Park and the Ramon Crater at Mitzpe Ramon. The coastal towns in Sinai (Egypt) are easily accessible from the Taba border crossing. You might also want to consider a trip to Petra in Jordan which you can enter via the Arava border crossing.
Getting from Ilan & Assaf Ramon Airport to Eilat
By car – a 15 minute drive. There is organized parking at the airport which costs 5 NIS/hour or 25 NIS/day.
Public transport; an Egged bus will take you from the Airport into Eilat for the cost of a regular bus ride – 4.20 NIS per ticket (as at March 2019) or 6.20 for a day pass (lines 30 and 50 from the airport to town or lines 31 and 32 to the suburbs of Eilat).
Taxis are available from The Ilan & Assaf Ramon Airport to Eilat and costs in the region of 90 shekels – $25 (not including luggage)
Trains to Eilat
There is no direct train to Eilat, hopefully we will see one in the not too distant future but in the meantime, you can take a train to Beer Sheva and then take a bus to Eilat.
Buses to Eilat
Buses to Eilat run from all if Israel’s major cities;
- From Jerusalem’s central bus station – platform 3, the ride is approximately 5 hours.
- From Tel Aviv’s new central bus station – 6th floor, the ride is also approximately 5 hours.
- Trains from Haifa’s Carmel central bust station takes around 7 hours as does the bus from Merkazit Hamifratz, just north of Haifa.
Car rentals
Car rental services are available in the arrivals hall of the Ramon Airport, with vehicles located in the parking lot outside the terminal.
