Why no UK-Eilat flights?
 

I remember several years ago, seeing adverts on the London Underground for Eilat. Then they disappeared. I seem to remember there being several flights out to Eilat from MAN, LTN, STN and LGW.

However the other day I googled Eilat and Ovda airport and was very surprised to see that there are no longer any non stop flights to Eilat from the UK. Eilat seems to be well served from Germany, Russia and Eastern Europe but nothing to the UK.

What happened?

Could these resume again?

Seems a shame.

More attractive beach holiday options from the UK, perhaps ?
Eastern Europe does seem to be the target...
http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-In...o-Eilat-408229

Ryanair will soon have flights to Ovdah.
I don't remember the details.

Not from UK. Budapest, Krakow and Kaunas.

In many occasions the direct flights to Eilat are seasonal, mostly during the winter. Eilat in the winter (+25C, warm red sea) is an attraction to winter tourism from Europe.
It could be that direct flight from the UK to Eilat exist only in winters.

I think it was always a difficult market for UK tour operators. Comfortable but expensive at the top end, with the quality dropping off steeply with the price. So as a winter sun destination there was competition from the Caribbean at one end, and Egypt at the other, with the Canaries taking the middle-ground.

Did you ever take any of those flights? Not enough other people did either.

I could not afford to back then :( but if it was available now I certainly would.

I read online that Eilat priced itself out of the market so lost a lot of British tourists to the Egyptian and Turkish resorts. However now that the Israeli Government has announced a 45 euro per head subsidy to any foreign airline starting flights to Eilat, im hoping to see a few Easyjets and Thomas Cooks!

That is what I heard too. I was under the impression that it was a cheap destination that rapidly became a lot more expensive.

I find it odd though that theyve made it work as an Eastern European/Russian holiday destination and not for the Brits.

A couple of operators used Ovda as the airport for Taba, just over the border in Egypt, after Taba airport had operational problems. The border crossing wasn't always the most comfortable: but with Taba popular with Israelis seeking R&R, it worked.

Who knows - with Taba still out of commission, that sort of arrangement might have legs. Sadly, Longwood one of the specialist operators, went bust.

Must say this is quite surprising! What with Israeli Arab relations not being great. I never knew Israelis holidayed in Egypt, guess it shows that normal people like to get on with doing normal things! Its great Israelis feel comfortable going on holiday to Egypt just like English people go over to France!

Did you hear about this proposal to build a joint Eilat-Aqaba Airport with a runway half in Israel and half in Jordan and two terminals, a Jordanian and an Israeli one? Great idea! Like the proposals for a San Diego -Tijuana Airport!

Dont think either took off but great idea in principal!

Agreed that Eilat makes sense as a winter destination. Besides, Eilat is expensive. So expensive that it's many times cheaper for Israelis to fly to Greece or Cyprus than to drive/fly/bus to Eilat for weekend/week-long getaways.

Really? This surprised me, I always used to view Eilat as a low cost holiday destination.

Was Israel trying to turn it into a Dubai or Monte Carlo?

The Israeli government doesn't always know what it's doing.

They made the city duty-free and the city became more expensive as a result.

No idea what their plans are

Not sure it's like crossing the channel :) I think it was less straight-forward vacations, a bit more based on gambling and escaping sabbath restrictions: and of course much cheaper accommodation! Israeli-registered cars were allowed, as long as they parked up at one or two of the hotels, like the Hilton, close to the border.

The Eilat/Taba border is an important one: the only one that processes tourists between Israel and Egypt overland. And remember a significant amount of tourism infrastructure on Sinai's Red Sea coast was built/improved by Israel during the occupation, and handed back to Egypt. Indeed, Taba airport was one of those infrastructures.