The proposal calls for the Israeli terminal to lie within Israeli territory, one kilometre from the border. Mixed flights to the two destinations will not take place at the initial stage.
The Ministry of Transport recently submitted for the government’s decision, the Israeli proposal for setting up the joint Eilat-Aqaba airfield.
According to the proposal, the airfield will be based on the infrastructure existing at the Aqaba field, while the Israeli terminal will lie within Israeli territory, about one kilometre west of the common border. The terminal will be under full sovereign Israeli control and jurisdiction. Access to the terminal will be via a telescopic corridor, so that passengers travelling to Israel will not encounter Jordanian authorities on their way to and from the aircraft. At the initial stage, there will be no mixed flights to the two destinations, but either Israeli or Jordanian flights.
The set-up cost of the joint airfield is estimated at tens of millions of dollars, compared with more expensive alternatives in a volume of hundreds of millions of dollars, proposed by Lockheed-Martin in a survey prepared in accordance with Israel-Jordanian directives.