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8 Most passenger flights utilizing Haifa Airport are domestic operations to Eilat and Tel Aviv . The airport is named after Uri Michaeli , one of the pioneers of Jewish aviation and one of the founders of aviation in Israel . // ISRAEL AIRPORTS AUTHORITY |
( 4.5km ) long . A ‘ smart ’ fence , it is capable of stopping any Korent missiles aimed at Ramon Airport .
When building this airport , the Israel Airport Authority ensured that it would have copious ramp space ; Ramon has eight remote parking stands for large aircraft and nine for turboprop jets . Its 11,800ft ( 3.600m ) runway can accommodate larger aircraft . A runway this long is rare for an airport designed only for 2 million passengers per year . Still , it is a necessity dictated by Ramon ’ s role as the diversion airport for any aircraft unable to fly into Ben Gurion . Having Ramon Airport in reserve avoids the many issues that would arise should a flight initially slated to arrive in Tel Aviv be rerouted outside of Israel .
Due to its location , far from civilian centers in the south , the airport is the primary alternate facility . Israel ’ s northern port city of Haifa does have its own airport ( HFA ), but it is much smaller than Ramon .
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During the 2021 flare-up , multiple flights bound for Ben Gurion were rerouted to Ramon Airport . However , at the time of writing , the Eilat airport had not yet been forced to act as backup for Ben Gurion ’ s passenger traffic .
EL AL ’ S MONOPOLY
According to Ben Gurion ’ s monthly report for November 2023 , while most airlines immediately suspended their flights to Israel , a few international airlines did continue operating : UAE ’ s flydubai ( FZ ) and Etihad Airways ( EY ), Russia ’ s Azimuth Airlines ( A4 ) and Red Wings Airlines ( WZ ), Uzbekistan Airways ( HY ), and Romania ’ s HiSky ( H7 ). Some had consolidated their services and operated minimal flights .
By December , despite the efforts made by Israeli officials to convince international airlines to return to Israel , Ethiopian Airlines ( ET ) was the only airline to have resumed service , on December 2 . In early December , the airport ’ s Chief
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Executive Officer , Udi Bar-Oz , spoke with 120 international airline representatives to urge them to restart flights to Israel , but to middling effect . By mid- December , a mere 498 weekly departures were recorded from Ben Gurion Airport , a 66.4 % drop from September levels .
The resulting void left El Al as the only airline operating nonstop flights on lucrative routes between the United States and Israel . In the fourth quarter of 2023 , El Al announced that it operated 80 % of the market share at Ben Gurion airport , compared to the 21 % it had before October .
Although the low-cost leisure carriers Arika and Israir , which continue to fly , cannot compete with El Al on its long-haul routes , they have profited from the absence of other low-cost carriers .
Having the wartime market to itself , El Al raised ticket prices , resulting in a 370 % rise in profit in the fourth quarter of 2023 , translating to almost US $ 40
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