Unnecessary airport

With loud fanfare and joy and Shashon, the Honorable Minister of Transportation announced the establishment of an international airport in front of Timna, a field that is supposed to serve the needs of tourism in Eilat. Are there more reasonable alternatives?

With loud fanfare and joy and Shashon, the Honorable Minister of Transportation announced the establishment of an international airport in front of Timna, a field that is supposed to serve the needs of tourism in Eilat.

Access roads, parking lots, shops and everything else will be built around the field, the field will allow for the evacuation of the current field, the mayor of Eilat immediately announced that the evacuated area has a huge real estate value and it is assumed that as such it will be marketed for the construction of towers.

Three things are surprising: one, how is it that such an "important" minister (and with him the mayor) waive with a wave of a pen the mention of their name in the megalomaniac reconstruction project? The second, where are the environmental bodies that do not protest the unnecessary intention.

The third, where is the protest of the residents of Eilat? Yes: today there is a small airport in Eilat that is used for domestic flights for the benefit of the residents who arrive at the airport within five minutes. If the unnecessary project is realized, the domestic flights - residents of Eilat and others - will have to pay for getting to the city - round trip, ten times the payment today. The airport is also good for the welfare of everyone who prefers a 40-minute flight to a more than four-hour drive on poor roads. A level for which the honorable minister is responsible.

True, the field is a buffer between the hotel area and the city, but the buffer can be easily removed by adding 500 meters to the track on the northern side and removing 500 meters from the south, and at the same time moving the passenger terminal to the northern end of the track.

The area that will be vacated must be left for the public, that is: no residential towers but a green and open park that will be a link between the hotel area and the city center. This way the "cone" required for the movement of the planes will also be preserved.

The minister, the mayor and other supporters of the project claim that a tourist city needs a good quality airport that will be close to the destination, as well as the need to "vacate the existing field for construction", the first reason is based on a mistake, since most airports in the world are located at distances of up to A two-hour drive from the destination, the second reason... is irritating, worrying and raises questions - who is pushing for the project? Because everyone who knows the place knows that Eilat does not need "residential towers".

Those who argue that Eilat needs an international field will argue, right. Today, the military airport serves this need due to the fact that it is an hour's drive from the hotels... what's wrong with that? But there is a better alternative than fact, across the border, to the north of Aqaba there is a long and large runway where the big planes land - Aqaba International Airport serves Aqaba and for a short period of time tourists from Eilat also landed there, the Jordanians are interested in cooperation, all that is needed is a runway Transportation to the Israeli border, a convenient passenger terminal, (the existing terminal or a terminal to be built south of the northern salt ponds), from the terminal a connecting road to the hotel area in Eilat which is 2-4 km long, both close and convenient and cheaper than any other option.

Those opposed to such sharing excuse their opposition with "security reasons", gentlemen of the opponents will decide: if we have peace with Jordan, what is the security problem? And if the peace is not stable, how is a field in Timna hundreds of meters from the border safer?

I'm not an expert on costs, but there is no doubt that cooperation with Jordan will be hundreds of percent cheaper than the megalomaniac project in Timana. The mayor of Eilat sees in his mind's eye how the field in Timana connects with the "northern gate" which in itself is a futile illusion.
We will try to summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the project:

Advantages:

• A modern international airport 20 minutes away from the destination. safety and security(?)

Cons:

• Safety and security depend on the geopolitical situation
• The cost is hundreds of percent higher than any other alternative
• the environmental destruction to be checked,
• Distance for consumers of domestic flights.

If the Minister of Transportation has the dedicated budget... he'd better direct it to improving the Arava road, to a joint project with the Jordanians, to moving the existing field a little north, all of which will cost less than an unnecessary megalomaniac project. The mayor of Eilat together with the honorable minister can commemorate their actions in establishing the above and thus "enter the historical archive" as developers and not as destroyers and wasters.

As for the members of the Ramon family. I have no doubt that Ilan and Asaf Ramon deserve to be commemorated, the right form will be found, there is no reason to commemorate them in an unnecessary megalomaniacal project!