Haifa Airport (, ''Namal HaTe'ufa Haifa''; ) , also known as Uri Michaeli Airport, is an international airport in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. It is located to the east of the city, close to Kishon Port and

Israel Shipyards Israel Shipyards is a large shipbuilding and repair facilities in the eastern Mediterranean. The company also operates a privately owned port in Israel. The company's facilities are located at the Kishon Port (part of the Port of Haifa complex) ...

and mainly serves civilian flights, with some military usage. The airport is named after

Uri Michaeli Uri may refer to: Places * Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland * Úri, a village and commune in Hungary * Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India * Uri (island), off Malakula Island in Vanua ...

, one of the pioneers of Jewish aviation and one of the founders of aviation in Israel. The airport has one short runway, in length, and there are plans to extend it by .

History

Haifa Airport or Haifa Aerodrome was established by the British Mandate in 1934 as its first international airport at the location of RAF Haifa, which originally served the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and the Iraqi-British oil company, APS. RAF Haifa already had passenger service by

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

(since 1931) and

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

(since 1932). In 1936 passenger services by

Misr Airwork Misr or MISR may refer to: * Misr, the romanized Arabic name for Egypt * misr, singular of Arabic ''amsar'', which were early Arabic "garrison towns" * Misr (domain name), a top-level Internet domain name * Misr, a variant of the AKM assault rifl ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

were opened. In 1937, these were joined by

Palestine Airways Palestine Airways (; ) was an airline founded by Zionist Pinhas Rutenberg in British Palestine, in conjunction with the Histadrut and the Jewish Agency. In 1937 the airline was taken over by British Government's Air Ministry, with the intentio ...

services, as well as

Ala Littoria Ala Littoria S.A. was the Italian national airline that operated during the fascist regime in the 1930s and 1940s. History ''Ala Littoria'' was formed by a merger of Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM), Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (S ...

regular services to

Brindisi Brindisi ( ; ) is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the city has played an essential role in trade and culture due to its strategic position ...

and

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

via

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. In 1938 a third of the flights into Mandatory Palestine landed in Haifa; but in 1940, civil flights were stopped due to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in which the airport served the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

's operations in the Middle East as RAF Haifa. The RAF station closed in 1948, and the airport re-opened as Haifa Airport.

Royal Air Force station

RAF Haifa was a

station in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

between 1918 and 1948. Operational units at RAF Haifa 1938 to 1948: * No. 6 Squadron RAF detachment (1938–1939)

Hawker Hardy The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

No. 30 Squadron RAF No. 30 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft and is based at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. The squadron was first formed as a unit of the Royal Flying Corps in 1915, serving through the rest of the ...

detachment (1940)

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

No. 80 Squadron RAF Number 80 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was reformed on 15 April 2024 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, after the numberplate was awarded to the British team at the Australia, Canada and United Kingdom Reprogramming Laborato ...

(1941) Hawker Hurricane I * No. 112 Squadron RAF detachment (1941) Curtiss Tomahawk I * No. 142 Squadron RAF detachment (1918) Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 * No. 144 Squadron RAF detachment (1919) de Havilland DH.9 *

No. 208 Squadron RAF No 208 (Reserve) Squadron was a reserve unit of the Royal Air Force, most recently based at RAF Valley, Anglesey, Wales. It operated the BAe Hawk aircraft, as a part of No. 4 Flying Training School. Due to obsolescence of its Hawk T.1 aircraf ...

detachment (1941)

Hawker Audax The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

* No. 213 Squadron RAF (1941) Hawker Hurricane I * No. 260 Squadron RAF (1941) Hawker Hurricane I * No. 261 Squadron RAF (1942) Hawker Hurricane I *

No. 450 Squadron RAAF No. 450 Squadron was a unit of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) that operated during World War II. Established at RAAF Base Williamtown, RAAF Station Williamtown, New South Wales, in February 1941, it was the first Australian Article ...

(1941) Hawker Hurricane I * No. 651 Squadron RAF (1948)

Auster AOP6 The Auster AOP.6 was a British military air observation aircraft produced by Auster Aircraft Limited to replace the numerous wartime Taylorcraft Auster aircraft then in-service. History The Auster AOP.6 (Auster Model K) was designed as a succe ...

Haifa Airport post-1948

The airport reopened for passenger traffic in 1948 with flights operated by

Cyprus Airways Cyprus Airways ( Greek: Κυπριακές Αερογραμμές) is the flag carrier of Cyprus, based at Larnaca International Airport. It commenced operations on 1 June 2017. It is the largest airline in Cyprus and it has flights for all ar ...

. This was followed ten years later by

Arkia Israel Airlines Arkia (stylized as arkia), legally incorporated as Arkia Israeli Airlines Ltd, is an Israeli airline. Its head office is on the grounds of Sde Dov Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is Israel's second-largest airline, operating scheduled domestic a ...

flights. It was not until 1994, however, that the airport received international status, and at this time, it was planned that the airport would serve flights to destinations across Europe. Less than a year later, the airport was placed for sale. At this time, great interest in the site was shown by the French construction group,

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...

, as well as

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

. These expected services never really took off however, and it was not until 1996, and the start of

Israir Israir Airlines Ltd., more commonly referred to as Israir, is an Israeli low-cost airline headquartered in Tel Aviv. It operates domestic scheduled and air taxi flights from Ben Gurion International Airport, Ramon Airport, and Haifa Airport as wel ...

flights, that the airport grew. This growth was further increased in 1998 with Aeroel service. Royal Wings increased route offerings once again with flights from Jordan, whilst Scorpio started flights to Egypt. In 1998, a new terminal was opened at the airport to cater for all of the services needed in a modern international airport. In the past there were three takeoff and landing runways in the airport, of which only two still exist, and only one is currently in use. In 2001, talk over expanding the airport restarted when then

Finance Minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

Silvan Shalom Zion Silvan Shalom (; born 4 August 1958) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1992 and 2015. He held several prominent ministerial positions, including Deputy leaders of Israel#Vice Prime Minister, Vi ...

called for an 800 million NIS upgrade to turn the airport into one of an international standard. 2007 saw the first rise in passenger numbers and aircraft movements since 2002 with an increase of 25% in passenger numbers and a 7% increase in aircraft movements over the previous year. In general, between the peak point of its operation in 1999 and 2007 passenger number have fallen by 50%. Aircraft movements have decreased from 2002 to 2007 by 34%. Since December 2024 the Israeli airline

Air Haifa Air Haifa (, ), stylized as airHaifa, is an Israeli airline operating flights to Eilat, Cyprus and Greece. Its hub is Uri Michaeli Haifa International Airport, hence the name. History Air Haifa, the first new Israeli airline since the 1990s, wa ...

, based in Haifa Airport, operates flights to

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

and to

Larnaca Larnaca, also spelled Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of the same name. With a district population of 155.000 in 2021, it is the third largest city in the country after Nicosi ...

. Further flights to other East Mediterranean destinations are also expected soon.

Future

The Israel Airports Authority intends to extend the runway to sometime in the 2020s. This will involve extending the runway northwards, across Julius Simon Road, which will then pass in a tunnel underneath the runway.

Airlines and destinations

Ground transportation

Bus and Taxi

The airport is served by Egged bus lines: 18א connecting airport with

and

Kiryat Ata Kiryat Ata () also spelled Qiryat Ata, is a city in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of , 92% of whom were Jewish citizens. History The Early Bronze Age site at Kiryat Ata has been extensively excavated since 1990, reveal ...

and 100 connecting airport with HaMifratz Central railway station and Haifa Bay central bus station.

Rail

The closest train stations are HaMifratz Central railway station, Hutzot HaMifratz, and

Kiryat Haim Kiryat Haim ( ) is a neighborhood of Haifa. It is considered part of the Krayot cluster in the northern part of metropolitan Haifa. In 2008, Kiryat Haim had a population of just under 27,000. Kiryat Haim is within the municipal borders of ...

. Arrival from the train station to the airport can be done by bus line 100 (operated by Egged), private vehicle or taxi.

Car

The airport is located close to Highway 4, the Haifa – Tel Aviv highway and highway 22. A fenced parking lot is available in front of the building, with about 100 parking spaces. Parking is free of charge. Vehicles may be parked on a temporary basis for a few days. Baggage carts are available in the parking lots, free of charge.

Statistics

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. . * Sturtivant, Ray,

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

and John Hamlin. ''RAF Flying Training And Support Units since 1912''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2007. .

External links

* *
Haifa Airport aviation weather
{{authority control Airports in Israel

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

Airports established in 1934 1934 establishments in Mandatory Palestine