Israeli Ramon Airport Project Collapses under Yemeni Strikes
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Israeli media acknowledged that the Ramon International Airport, once promoted as a flagship project near Eilat, has turned into a deserted facility after repeated missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s armed forces and the collapse of foreign tourism.
The Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported that Ramon Airport, inaugurated in 2019 as Israel’s second international hub, has been reduced to an empty shell.
The airport, built on 5,000 dunams and designed to relieve pressure from Ben Gurion Airport, was supposed to attract international flights.
Instead, it now handles only a handful of domestic flights to Tel Aviv, with no foreign carriers willing to operate from the site.
The paper said Yemeni missile and drone strikes, combined with the wider war, drove away tourism and left the airport without passengers.
Residents of occupied Eilat also avoid the facility, preferring to travel abroad through Ben Gurion.
A Maariv reporter described the airport as “depressing and joyless,” noting that even returning passengers questioned the meaning of calling Ramon an “international” airport.
“It makes life difficult,” said Itay, an Eilat resident. “I flew from Greece and had to switch at Ben Gurion. Why can’t I land directly at Ramon? They sold us this as an international airport. What does international even mean here?”
Another family from Eilat asked why authorities shut down the old local airport if Ramon only connects to Tel Aviv.
“This is shameful,” they said. “It wasted money on a new project while destroying the old airport, making travel to and from Eilat much harder.”
The report concluded that Yemeni resistance strikes, carried out in solidarity with Gaza, have crippled key Israeli infrastructure — with Ramon Airport standing as a stark symbol of that failure.
