Haifa Airport

Haifa Airport (נְמַל הַתְּעוּפָה חֵיפָה, Namal HaTe'ufa Haifa; مطار حيفا), also known as Uri Michaeli Airport, is a small general aviation airport (only operates flights to Larnaca and Paphos) located in Haifa, an Israeli city. It is located to the east of the city, close to Kishon Port and Israel Shipyards and mainly serves civilian flights, with some military usage. Most passenger flights utilizing the airport are domestic operations to Eilat and Tel Aviv. The airport is named after Uri Michaeli, one of the pioneers of Jewish aviation and one of the founders of aviation in Israel. The airport has one short runway, 1318 m in length, and there are plans to extend it by 316 m.

History
Haifa Airport 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 and the Iraqi-British oil company, APS. RAF Haifa already had passenger service by Imperial Airways to Alexandria (since 1931) and Baghdad (since 1932). In 1936 passenger services by Misr Airwork to Beirut and Cyprus were opened. In 1937, these were joined by Palestine Airways services, as well as Ala Littoria regular services to Brindisi and Trieste via Athens. In 1938 a third of flights into Mandatory Palestine landed in Haifa; but in 1940, civil flights were stopped due to the Second World War in which the airport served the Royal Air Force's operations in the Middle East as RAF Haifa. The RAF station closed in 1948, and the airport re-opened as Haifa Airport.

RAF Haifa
RAF Haifa was a Royal Air Force station in Mandatory Palestine between 1918 and 1948.

Operational units at RAF Haifa 1938 to 1948:
 * No. 6 Squadron RAF detachment (1938–1939) Hawker Hardy
 * No. 30 Squadron RAF detachment (1940) Bristol Blenheim
 * No. 80 Squadron RAF (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 detachment (1941) Hawker Audax
 * 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 (1941) Hawker Hurricane I
 * No. 651 Squadron RAF (1948) Auster AOP6

Haifa Airport post-1948
The airport reopened for passenger traffic in 1948 with flights operated by Cyprus Airways. This was followed ten years later by Arkia Israel Airlines flights. It wasn't 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, as well as British Aerospace.

These expected services never really took off however, and it wasn't until 1996, and the start of Israir 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, Silvan Shalom 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%.

Future
The Israel Airports Authority intends to extend the runway to 1,634 m 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.

The new airHaifa airline is planing to launch operations during September 2024, when at the beginning it will issue flights on the Haifa-Eilat route and later it will also fly to Cyprus, Greece and Turkey.

Bus or taxi
The airport is served by Egged bus lines 18א connecting airport with Haifa and Kiryat Ata.

Rail
The closest train stations are HaMifratz Central railway station, Hutzot HaMifratz, and Kiryat Haim. Arrival from the train station to the airport can be done by private vehicle, 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.