Review of Israir flight Tel Aviv Eilat in Economy

Airline Israir
Flight 6H 043
Class Economy
Seat 3D
Aircraft ATR 72-500
Flight time 01:00
Take-off 29 Apr 22, 09:20
Arrival at 29 Apr 22, 10:20
6H 13 reviews
Dor
By BRONZE 1277
Published on 3rd May 2022

Introduction


Hello and welcome to my flight report about my flight with Israir from TLV to ETM.
It has been a long time ago since I wrote a flight report, the corona virus changed my plans in 2020, but now it seems that I'll be able to claim my plans.

Eilat airport (ETH) closed in 2019, the old airport was located in the city center and you could walk from the airport to your hotel within 15-20 minutes.
Since 2019, aircraft land in ETM airport, which located 15-20 km from Eilat, meaning it's much less convenient to arrive with aircraft, and it's not a time saver as it was in the past.

For the first time in my flight reports history, the photos and the videos were taken with a smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra) and not with one of my cameras. 

So, let's begin the journey from TLV to ETM.


TLV AIRPORT - TERMINAL 1


The entrance to the terminal:


photo 20220429_073019

The check in area:


photo 20220429_073119photo 20220429_073159photo 20220429_073941

Though there were 3 agents for our flight, the check in process was slow, even slower than some of my international flights with larger aircraft.

During the waiting in the line, I went to the toilets in the terminal:


photo 20220429_073553photo 20220429_073819

As you can see, the toilets weren't so clean, I saw the toilets in TLV airport in much better shape even on busy times.

After finishing the check in process, I received this form, which used only in domestic flights, I never received such form on my international flights from TLV.


photo 20220429_074508

Then I proceeded to the security check area (which I not filmed since it's prohibited):


photo 20220429_080219photo 20220429_080235

As you can see, the international flights area in terminal 1 was closed, currently even low cost flights take off from terminal 3 (but the check in process is still handled in terminal 1 for some reason).

After finishing the security check, I went to the waiting area:


photo 20220429_080532

The Ben Gurion statue is pretty nice in my opinion, people who read my flight reports probably saw similar statue in terminal 3.

The waiting area:


photo 20220429_080556

The waiting area looks pretty nice and clean.
There are also charging ports, as well as vending machines:


photo 20220429_080607

Prices were reasonable for airport, Coca Cola bottle (500 ml) costs 7 NIS, approximately 2$ USD.

While waiting for the flight, I hoped to catch some aircraft photos, but this is the only one I could photograph:


photo 20220429_080716

There is also a coffee shop in the airport, with reasonable prices for airport:


photo 20220429_080834

They sell sandwiches, hot drinks (coffee, tea, etc.), cold drinks and snacks.

My boarding card:


photo 20220429_080847

I went to the toilets in the waiting area as well:


photo 20220429_083046photo 20220429_083243

Here the cleaning situation was much better.

The way back to the waiting area:


photo 20220429_083226photo 20220429_083233

Boarding started around 20 minutes before the flight and we made our way with bus.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much to photograph on our way to the aircraft.

Here's our aircraft:


photo 20220429_085500photo 20220429_085508

Aircraft information:
Israir
ATR 72-500 (72-212A)
4X-ATH
In service with Israir since June 2011, making it almost 11 years old when I flew with it


FLIGHT EXPEREINCE - TLV TO ETM


The boarding process started almost at 9 am (our scheduled take off time).

The cabin of the ATR:


photo 20220429_085813photo 20220429_085819

As you can see, the cabin was clean, but the seats showed a bit of wear, some refurbish of the cabin will be good.

The seats can not be reclined, but the legroom was pretty impressive for aircraft from this category:


photo 20220429_085930

Please note that I'm 1.64 meters, so the legroom was good for me, probably people around 1.75-1.80 meters will seat comfortably as well.

The back seat pocket included the duty free magazine, Israir magazine, safety card and sickness bag:


photo 20220429_090016

Window view while boarding:


photo 20220429_090022

During the boarding process, the pilots told us that our flight will be delayed due to the refuel of the aircraft. I don't know why they let us board the aircraft while it wasn't ready.

The modern PSU, with led light, not so clean:


photo 20220429_090028

The aircraft was pushed back with a 20 minutes delay.

Photos during taxing:


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Take off video:



Climbing over the central area of Israel:


photo 20220429_093348

10 minutes into the flight, I went to the lavatory in the rear of the aircraft, and what a surprise! This is the tiniest lavatory I ever saw in an aircraft!


photo 20220429_094017photo 20220429_094019photo 20220429_094023

As you can see, the lavatory is in a very good condition and looked clean, well done Israir!

Some views of the southern part of Israel:


photo 20220429_094332photo 20220429_101217

Landing video in ETM airport:



And some picture on our parking position in ETM:


photo 20220429_102240

We landed with a delay of 20 minutes.

Cabin view during deboarding:


photo 20220429_102647photo 20220429_102745

And goodbye to 4X-ATH!


photo 20220429_102917photo 20220429_102940photo 20220429_102951

ETM AIRPORT


ETM (Ramon) airport is the newest airport in Israel and it looks pretty nice in my opinion.
Outside photos:


photo 20220429_102956photo 20220429_103053

I found it very nice to walk from the airport to terminal, instead of waiting for the bus to take you to the airport.

Inside the terminal:


photo 20220429_103151photo 20220429_103200

Baggage claim area:



As you can see all the rental cars company were closed, the only one who's working in the airport currently is Sixt (but their counter was closed also as you can see).

Outside view of the terminal:


photo 20220429_104157

It was very sad to see the airport, it's pretty big but doesn't have too much flights since the corona virus.
Only couple of domestic flights land here every day, probably up to 8 flights per day (not including Friday and Saturday). This airport feels like a white elephant.


I hope that with the situation of the corona virus under control in Israel, this airport traffic will start to grow.
It was very sad to see this airport so empty and without any activity.


NEXT FLIGHT REPORTS!


Domestic flights in Israel:
6H 458 (the return flight from ETM to TLV)

Flights to\from Europe:
IZ271 (TLV-BCN)
VY7844 (BCN-TLV)

Flights to\from Canada:
AC81 (TLV-YYZ)
AC80 (YYZ-TLV)

Domestic flights in Canada:
F8 1821 (YYZ-YYC)
WS654 (YYC-YYZ)

I hope that you enjoyed and hope to see you again in my future flight reports!

See more

Verdict

Israir

5.0/10
Cabin10.0
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi0.0
Meal/catering0.0

Tel Aviv - TLV

8.5/10
Efficiency7.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness7.0

Eilat - ETM

9.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

Israir fleet has changed since I flew with them in 2009.
They have 2 ATR72 and 5 (soon 6) Airbus A320.
The service on board was lacking, the crew didn't served even a cup of water (while Israir mentioned in their website that on flight from\to Eilat they'll serve a cup of water).
Buy on board wasn't available but it's reasonable on this flight, since it's a short one.
No IFE on board, but it's also reasonable since this aircraft used primarily for this route which is very short.

TLV airport was good as usual, the services for the domestic area were pretty good.
ETM airport services are almost not available, no car rental, maybe the coffee shop was open and that it. Hopefully it'll be better in the future.

Even though I love to fly, I won't recommend to use the flights from Tel Aviv to Eilat, since with the combined time (driving to the airport, check in, security process, waiting in the terminal, the flight itself, the waiting for the baggage and the driving from the airport to Eilat) can be almost the same as driving from the central area in Israel to Eilat.

Information on the route Tel Aviv (TLV) Eilat (ETM)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 3 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Tel Aviv (TLV) → Eilat (ETM).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Israir avec 5.5/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 0 heures et 58 minutes.

  More information

4 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 601855 by
    ROY 53 Comments
    Great FR, waiting for your next one.
  • Comment 602145 by
    viajero90 106 Comments
    Toda Raba! Nice FR.
    I remember how cool it was to see airplanes aproaching old Eilat Airport. But the new airport looks very nice too.
    Cheers
    • Comment 602148 by
      Dor BRONZE AUTHOR 113 Comments
      Thank you!
      The old airport was located much better than the new one.
      With the new airport location (and with the closing of SDV, Sde dov airport in Tel Aviv), even after I moved to the central area of Israel, it's more reasonable to drive all the way to Eilat (350 km approximately, most of them in good roads) than taking this flight.
      The driving time is pretty much the same, but with car I can stop wherever I wish on the way, I don't care if I bought too much things (since Eilat is cheap, VAT is free on this city), etc., and I don't need to wake up early for the flight or wait for my baggage to arrive in the airport.

      I did this flight as a "test" for the flights (which didn't saved any time) and because me and my girlfriend wanted to fly after almost 3 years without any flight.
      Next time I'll use the car without any doubt.

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