Sde Dov Airport

Sde Dov Airport (Hebrew: שדה דב‎, lit. Dov Field, Arabic: مطار سدي دوف‎), also known as Dov Hoz Airport (Hebrew: נמל התעופה דב הוז‎, Nemal HaTe'ufa Dov Hoz, Arabic: مطار دوف هوز‎) (IATA: SDV, ICAO: LLSD) is an airport located in Tel Aviv, Israel which mainly handles scheduled domestic flights to Eilat and Ovda, northern Israel (Haifa and the Galilee), and the Golan Heights. It is the largest airport in Tel Aviv proper, and the second largest in the area, after Ben Gurion International Airport on the outskirts of Lod. The airport is named after Dov Hoz, one of the pioneers of Jewish aviation. The airport is expected to close by the end of 2018 after an agreement was struck re-purposing the land which houses it for residential apartments. Commercial flights will move to Ben Gurion Airport. The airport is a focus city for Arkia Israel Airlines and Israir Airlines.

History

Early history

In 1937, the mayor of Tel Aviv Israel Rokach asked the British mandate authorities for permission to create an airport in Palestine, promising to solve the transportation problem of Jews during the Arab revolt of 1936–39 when travelling from Tel Aviv through Arab territory to the main airport at Lydda, to catch Palestine Airways flights to Haifa, was difficult and dangerous. Works began on a plot of land north of the Yarkon River, Tel Aviv and when completed in October 1938, the airport served regular flights to Haifa, with the option of flights to Beirut. In 1940, the airport's name was changed to Sde Dov, in memory of Dov Hoz, one of the pioneers of Jewish aviation. Sde Dov was abandoned after Palestine Airways ceased operations in August 1940 and the site was used as a British Army base until December 1947 when with British permission the runway was reopened by Haganah.