Israeli aviation entered a new age on Monday when the first international commercial flight landed at the new Ilan and Asaf Ramon International Airport in Timna Valley, near Eilat.
Irish budget-friendly airliner Ryanair touched down at Ramon International Airport near Eilat at 5 p.m. from Poznań, Poland, and another plane arrived from Prague an hour later.
Ramon International Airport is named after the first Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, and his son Asaf Ramon, who died six years later when his F-16 fighter jet crashed in a training accident.
Ramon's wife and Asaf's mother, Rona Ramon, passed away on Dec. 17.
The airport, constructed at a cost of some $500 million, has an annual capacity of 2.5 million passengers, with room for expansion. It is able to handle 20 takeoffs and landings an hour and accommodate large aircraft, such as Boeing 747s.
Airlines that use Ramon airport will be exempt from having to pay landing fees, in an effort to encourage them to utilize the airport.
