Israel’s cabinet approved last week plans to build at a cost of NIS 1.6 billion ($478 million) the nation’s second international airport, to be located in Timna, in the south of the country near the resort city of Eilat.
The existing Eilat airport is a small facility literally inside the city of Eilat. Timna, where the airport is to be located, is about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) north of Eilat. Construction of the new facility, to be named the Ramon Airport, is expected to take approximately three years.
The airport will replace the resort town's current airport, and will end civilian use of the airport at the Ovda Air Force Base.
PM Netanyahu said that the relocation would free up valuable Eilat land for development and spare residents the noise and pollution of air traffic. "This is part of the steps we are taking to change Eilat and the Negev, which will include laying a railway to Eilat and broadening the Arava road, and we are looking into the possibility of relocating Eilat port". According to the plan, along with moving the port, the city's southern coastal strip will also be evacuated in order to build additional hotels.
Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, was one of seven crew members killed in the space shuttle Columbia's accident in February 2003. His son Asaf, a captain in the Israeli Air Force, was killed during a training flight in September 2009.
