Uri Michaeli Haifa International Airport

Haifa Airport (, Namal HaTe'ufa Haifa; ) , also known as Uri Michaeli Airport, is an international airport in Haifa, Israel. It is Israel's oldest international airport and the third-busiest (in terms of passenger traffic). 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 the 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.

Use by Royal Air Force

The British Royal Air Force used the Haifa airport between 1918 and 1948.

List of Operational units that flew from Haifa

No. 6 Squadron RAF detachment (1938–1939) Hawker Hardy<div> </div>

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

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State of Israel

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 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, as well as British Aerospace.

In 1998, a new terminal was opened.

In 2001, talks over the airport expanding restarted when then Finance Minister, Silvan Shalom called for an 800 million NIS upgrade to turn the airport into one of an international standard.

Since December 2024 the newly established Israeli airline airHaifa, based at Haifa Airport, operates flights to several domestic and international destinations over the Eastern Mediterranean.

On Haifa Airport’s first-ever 200 m<sup>2</sup> duty-free store was opened. The store opened in a ceremony with Sharon Kedmi, CEO of the Israel Airports Authority, and the co-CEOs of LAYAM — the Teddy Sagi Group company that will operate the store.

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

As of December 2025, airport operates scheduled flights to Eilat (Israel), Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece.

Ground transportation

Bus and Taxi

The airport is served by Egged bus lines 100 and 18/18a connecting the airport with Haifa Bay central bus station, HaMifratz Central railway station and the nearby industrial district.

Rail

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

Bus line 100 (operated by Egged) connects the airport with HaMifratz Central railway station.

Car

The airport is located close to Highway 4 (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

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;

|+ Statistics for Haifa Airport

! Year !! Total passengers !! Passenger change !! Total operations || Operations change

! 1999

| 130,571 || ||   ||

! 2000

| 137,858 || 5.6% ||   ||

! 2001

| 120,301 || 12.7%||  ||

! 2002

| 127,200 || 5.7%||20,587 ||

! 2003

| 93,385 || 26.6%||16,978|| 17.5%

! 2004

| 70,831 || 24.2%||16,225|| 4.4%

! 2005

| 61,334 || 13.4%||13,082|| 19.4%

! 2006

| 52,388 || 14.6%||12,614|| 3.6%

! 2007

| 65,551 || 25.1%||13,531|| 7.3%

! 2008

| 64,809 || 1.1%||13,367|| 1.2%

! 2009

| 50,677 || 21.8%||8,714|| 34.8%

! 2010

| 83,131 || 64.0%||13,602|| 56.1%

! 2011

| 74,244 || 10.7%||12,067|| 11.3%

! 2012

| 78,033 || 5.1%|| 12,037 || 0.2%

! 2013

| 81,804 || 4.8% || 15,969 || 32.7%

! 2014

| 102,578 || 25.4% || 21,271 || 33.2%

! 2015

| 110,805 || 8.0% || 18,197 || 14.5%

! 2016

| 119,113 || 7.5% || 17,086 || 6.1%

! 2017

| 140,222 || 17.7% || 19,168 || 12.2%

! 2018

| 87,552 || 37.6% || 16,624 || 13.3%

! 2019

| 92,695 || 5.9% || 17,729 || 6.6%

! 2020

| 77,963 || 15.9% || 21,177 || 19.4%

! 2021

| 80,337 || 3.0% || 25,435 || 20.1%

! 2022

| 69,677 || 13.3% || 24,062 || 5.4%

! 2023

| 61,333 || 12.0% || 19,563 || 18.7%

! 2024

| 26,641 || 56.7% || 11,102 || 43.3%

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

External links

Accident history for HFA at Aviation Safety Network
Haifa Airport aviation weather