Review of Israir flight Tel Aviv → Eilat in Economy

Introduction

Hello and Welcome to this short 2-part Flight-report series covering my flights from Ben Gurion airport to Eilat Ramon airport and back.
Lately I got a few days of unexpected vacation. However, the only thing I could plan in such a short notice is a day trip to Eilat and back.
 
I booked the flight on Israir website only 4 days before the flight which makes it my most spontaneous flight ever.
It cost me 298 NIS (or about 78 USD) for the basic fare.
For the flight back I added a premium seat which cost me 59 ILS (or about 15 USD).

 Now let's get started! 

routing

Ben gurion airport

So I got at the airport about 1 hour before the scheduled departure time since I checked in online.
Entrance to Terminal 1:

Terminal 1 is the old terminal that used to be the main terminal until 2004.
 Now it serves as the departure and arrival terminal for all the domestic flights, as well as the departure terminal for most of the LCC flight out Ben Gurion Airport (however they arrive at main Terminal 3).

 Check In area:

Even though I checked-in online I still have to pass security questioning which took maybe 3 minutes and then I proceeded towards the security check. 

International flight schedule:

Domestic (Eilat) flight schedule:

After security which took roughly 10 minutes I went to the gate area which contains only 2 bus gates, sorry I didn't take a picture.

BOARDING

Boarding started around 8:30 instead on 8:10.
then I went down the stairs to the bus, which was a used city bus from Tel Aviv and not an airport bus, but it doesn't really matters.
What actually matters is that you can see all the planes on the ramp during the ride.

Air India B788 (arrived the night before from Delhi and was probably grounded for technical reasons): 

 Wizz Air Airbus A320 to Rome:

Smartwings B738 operating for Sun d'Or to Naples: 

Wizz Air A321 NEO to Larnaca:

That's my ride for today: Israir Airbus A320-200 4X-ABW.
It was manufactured in 2005 for Jetstar. In 2014 it was leased by Air Serbia and only in December 2022 in entered it's service with Israir.  

Boarding:

The IAE V2500 engine: 

cabin

The cabin crew greeted us warmly and showed the passengers the way to their seats.

The cabin is a very basic and simple all-economy cabin as you can see: 

That's my seat for the next 90 minutes (only 40 are actual flying), 21A; 

Nice wing view:

Cabin view during boarding:

The legrrom can be better:

Tray table:

Seat pocket contents including an inflight magazine, buy on board menu and safety instructions:

takeoff

After boarding was completed and the safety demonstration was over, about 15 minutes after the scheduled departure time, we did pushback and started our long taxi to runway 26 (the main takeoff runway). Takeoff time was 9:35, 35 minutes after schedule.

The full Takeoff video: 

inflight

Over the clouds just after takeoff:

The Mediterranean coast near Rishon Lezion:

Jerusalem area:

The Dead Sea:

As you can see, there is no inflight service\entertainment at all. 
However this flight is short enough so it's doesn't matter that much.
 Although I would appreciate a drink\snack service.

Not long afterwards we got into the desert and started our descent into Ramon Airport.
Here you can see Kibbutz Yotvata, which is well known for it's milk products factory:

And here we can already see Eilat Ramon Airport, which opened just in 2019 to replace the old Eilat airport:

landing

The full landing video:

After we landed on a short 15 minutes delay and taxied to our parking spot just in front of the terminal.
Deboarding was chaotic as expected:   

eilat ramon airort

You don't need a bus here, you just walk to the terminal:

Arkia E195 to Tel Aviv:

This is only picture I could capture of the airport as I was in a hurry to make to my bus.
As you can see, it's new and bright.
Since I didn't have to collect any baggage I was outside in less than 5 minutes. 

I think they should improve the bus services here, as you can see it can get quite crowded:

And here's the legendary DC3 that was brought from the old airport as it's the symbol of Eilat Airport for many years now and that marks the end of this Flight-Report: