Background:
After many years of anticipation, the European low cost monster Ryanair has opened service to Israel on November 2015. FR inaugurated routes from Lithuania, Poland and Hungary to Ovda airport, near Eilat, FR's first destination in Asia. New routes aimed for tourists who wish to de-frost themselves on the Red sea beach during winter, yet for us Israelis, it gave the option to fly ridiculously cheap to Europe. So once new routes opened for sale, my credit card was pulled out and you know how it goes.
Out of the 3 options (BUD, KRK & KUN) Budapest was the most attractive one, and if I'm already there, why not fly FR for peanuts to get to another place? Copenhagen therefore was the next stop, a place I have never been before, giving me my first visit to Scandinavia. Booking was done way back in July at Ryanair.com, VDA-BUD was 35 USD (the opening price of 29.90 Euros) & BUD-CPH was 26 USD. Fellow aviation enthusiast and friend for years, Gilad Goren, joined me.
To get to Ovda, I booked a SDV-ETH flight with Arkia and decided if I'm already on vacation, I decided to stay a night in Eilat, even though I could have done it all in one day. In theory, I could have taken an hour long train to Beer Sheva, and from there another 2.5 hours by bus to Ovda, but where is the fun in that? Fun fact: the 284km flight from Tel Aviv to Eilat was more expensive than the 2,364km flight from Ovda to Budapest, god bless Ryanair.
Flying: After some non-aviation arrangements in Tel Aviv in the morning, I got to SDV airport at 11:30. I checked in and got a boarding pass for seat 9D on the ATR 72-500 that will take me to Eilat. Even though flying out of TLV was cheaper (123 NIS in comparison to 183 NIS) I use every chance I have to fly out of SDV, as the airport is due to close down soon. External view:
Security and check in takes just few minutes in this small city-center airport:
Boarding was called, and we were bussed to 4X-AVU, my second ride on that plane. Airside:
This is "the box," Ayit's Shorts featured in this report from 2010:
Flying The Box: Ayit Shorts 360 SDV-RPN-SDV (by el-al Oct 10 2010 in Trip Reports)
Boarding:
Pushback was right on time and we departed to Eilat. Off we go – first time I am flying to Eilat in order to fly abroad:
Cruising:
Cabin:
After 51 minutes in the air we landed on runway 3:
Quick disembarking:
From the airport I walked to C hotel, where I booked a night because the place is located perfectly between the airport and the bus station and had a good price for a standard **** hotel – not to mention its nice runway view from my room:
Some pics from the walk I had next morning in Eilat:
I had one hell of acclimatization to do on this trip! From 28C in Eilat to 17C in Budapest, then to cold ~5C in Copenhagen, and all that with only one carry-on bag!
Well, let's get to business. After a morning walk and breakfast, I went to buy some food at a local supermarket (in Israel you CAN take liquids on board planes, I guess we know nothing about security) then I met Gilad and we took the short walk to the bus station. At first, we planned to board the bus in the picture, 392, connecting Eilat and Beer Sheva via Ovda airport:
Yet, In preparation for new LCC flights, the bus company launched another line connecting VDA to Eilat hotels and bus station (25 NIS/6 Euros per passenger), adjusted to flights timetable, without the continuation to Beer Sheva (http://www.egged.co.il/Article-4917-Ovda-Airport-Transfer.aspx); so we took it as it drove right to the terminal without any intermediate stops:
On the bus, the road to Ovda offers a beautiful desert view, which was a nice change from the urban environment I have on most days:
The fence on the left is the border between Israel and Egypt:
The bus ride took 50 minutes, and soon we were dropped off next to the terminal for our 17:00 departure:
I was so excited! My first time in Ovda airport, and the first time I am flying out of Israel from an airport which is not TLV. Terminal view:
Ovda airport, VDA, is an IAF base built in 1982, due to Israel's withdrawal from Sinai as part of the peace agreement with Egypt. Fun fact for those who say that Israel is refusing to make peace - it gave an area 1.5 times its own size just to make peace with one country. Oh sorry, back on topic.
When the airport was completed, Israel's Airports Authority decided to build a passenger terminal on the west side of the airport in order to remove all international traffic out of small and congested ETH, and that's how it's working ever since: int'l traffic to VDA, domestic traffic to ETH. A new airport in Timna, 18km north of Eilat, will replace both airports. That is due to open in the summer of 2017. Check in hall:
A local company did the check-in and all crew members were very friendly. No one weighed or measured anyone's carry-on bag and even though it was Ryanair's first week of operation in Israel, all passengers seemed to know they needed to check in online and to bring the boarding pass with them. Airside:
FIDS:
Our plane arrived. Notice the C130 behind it:
Boarding was called 35 minutes before takeoff. External airside view:
Heading to EI-ENW:
I sat in the exit row seat, and was hoping to have 3 seats to myself, but at the very last minute prior to takeoff a Hungarian passenger quickly made a move from her seat to the aisle to gain the extra legroom. So I 'only' had the middle seat empty. Legroom:
View from my window – pretty strange to sit in a B737 parking in the middle of the desert:
Right on time we taxied and took off 8 minutes later from 2L, into the desert evening skies:
We had a great view of Israel that evening, as the plane headed northeast towards the Dead Sea, then turned left over Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and on to Cyprus and Europe. Cabin, LF was 80% - good load for first operations week! About 1/3 of the passengers were Israelis and the rest were Hungarians:
Flight passed very well. I was pleased to notice that Ryanair stopped using the PA system for advertising (as I remember from my SVQ-REU FR flight in 2010) and with the extra legroom and empty middle seat I was very comfortable. I bought (strong Hungarian) coffee, ate the sandwiches I bought earlier, Gilad (who bought himself 1A seat) and I talked a bit, and before we noticed it was time to land in Budapest. Disembarking:
Indeed nothing to complain when you buy 3.5 hours flight for $35, in particular when you compare in to flights prices in Canada....