ISRAEL and Jordan could get together to develop a joint airport for
Eilat and Aqaba, a plan that has been suggested before but has never
actually got off the ground. Last week Israeli veteran Deputy Prime
Minister Shimon Peres met with Jordan's King Abdullah in Petra at a
Nobel Prize Laureates' conference where the subject was discussed.
Aqaba has a little used airport that sits by the border with Israel
whilst the Eilat airport is virtually in the centre of the town and
whilst OK for lightly loaded Boeing 757s to Tel Aviv”s Ben Gurion the
runway is short for even medium range services typically to the UK.
A rebuilt Aqaba with twin terminals rather like Basle could be to each
country”s advantage. The idea is practical and has not have political
overtures as demonstrated last week by the Royal Jordanian Air Force
using Eilat. The closure of the Israeli airport would release very
valuable land with a fine location. Currently charter flights from
Europe operate from the military airfield at Ovda, about one hour”s
desert drive from Eilat.
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