ISRAEL. JR/Duty Free has been awarded the ten-year duty free contract at the new Eilat Ilan and Assaf Ramon Airport near Eilat, which is expected to open in early 2018.
Israel Airports Authority Director General – Commerce and Business Development Yoram Shapira confirmed the award to The Moodie Davitt Report this evening Israel time. JR/Duty Free Chairman Garry Stock said: “We’re very pleased and see a great opportunity. This contract reflects the changing nature of duty free and travel retail in Israel, given that for the first time in the country’s history there will be two major international airports.”
Besides involving an important contract in its own right, the success is a welcome boost to JR/Duty Free as it seeks to retain its Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport duty free stronghold. As reported, JR/Duty Free has formed a joint venture with Gebr Heinemann to bid on the T1 and T3 concessions (retailers can bid on either one or both contracts). Bids close on 9 August (for latest details on the bid click here).
The new airport will mainly serve domestic and international incoming tourism to the city of Eilat and the southern resorts of Mitzpe Ramon and the Dead Sea.
Ilan and Assaf Ramon Airport is described by the IAA as a “unique national project” as it is the first domestic/international airport in Israel to be planned and constructed from top to bottom. It is in the spectacular Timna Valley and has been widely described in the Israeli press as one of the world’s most beautiful airports.
The airport is named after Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut and a national hero, who was killed in the 2003 Colombia space disaster, and his son Asaf Ramon, who died in a 2009 flight training accident. It will handle around 1.3 million passengers in its first full year (around 150,000 international), rising to 4 million in the near term.
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