Ovda Airport was the former civilian part of the ''Ovda Israeli Air Force Base'' in the Uvda region of southern

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 ...

, about north of

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 ...

. It was the country's second international airport. Ovda was originally built and opened as a military airbase in 1981 and was joint-used as a civilian airport a year later but ceased handling civilian flights on 31 March 2019 thanks to the opening of

Ramon Airport Ramon Airport () , named after Ilan and Assaf Ramon and unofficially also known as Eilat-Ramon Airport, is an international airport located in the Timna Valley in southern Israel. Ramon Airport is the second busiest in Israel (after Ben Gurion ...

, which is located much closer to the city of Eilat than Ovda.

History

Ovda Airbase was constructed for the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

(IAF) by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as a replacement for Etzion Air Force Base and opened in 1981. The

Israeli Airports Authority The Israel Airports Authority (IAA, , ''Reshut Sdot HaTe'ufa BeYisra'el''; ) was founded in 1977 as a public corporation mandated by the Israel Airports Authority Law. The authority is responsible for the management of Israel's major civil airpo ...

began operations from Ovda Airport in 1982, after the signing of the peace treaty with Egypt. Previously all charter flights from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

had landed at Etzion, however this was one of four airports in the Sinai that were handed over to Egypt as part of the

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...

. A civilian terminal was built at the airport which handled direct charter flights from Europe. In 1988 a decision was made that

international flight An international flight is a form of commercial flight within civil aviation where the Takeoff, departure and the arrival take place in different Country, countries. Regular international passenger air service began in August 1919 with a flight ...

s bringing tourists to Eilat would land at Ovda, instead of at Eilat. This allowed the operation of large,

wide-body aircraft A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft and in the largest cases as a jumbo jet, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is ...

, such as the

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

, which could not operate from

Eilat Airport Eilat Airport (; ), also known as J. Hozman Airport, was an airport located in Eilat, Israel. It was named after Arkia Airlines founder Yakov Hozman (Jacob Housman) and was located in the center of Eilat adjacent to Route 90 (The Arava Road). ...

. Between the late 1980s and 2019 most international flights landed at Ovda instead of Eilat. The runway at Ovda also allowed long range flights to take off for any European destination without the need to refuel. In 2005, the airport had 746 international aircraft movements and 82,479 international passenger movements. On 23 July 2014 after the temporary stoppage of international air traffic to Tel Aviv

Ben Gurion Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , commonly known by the Hebrew language, Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on outskirts north of the city of Lod and directly south of the city of Or Yehuda, i ...

, due to rocket fire on Israeli cities from

Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Mandatory Palestine * Gaza Sub ...

, Ovda Airport was opened to accept all international traffic. It was the

diversion airport Diversion airports are airports capable of handling a particular ETOPS The Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards (ETOPS) () are safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for Twinjet, twin-e ...

for flights to Israel until replaced in that role by

Eilat Ramon Airport Ramon Airport () , named after Ilan and Assaf Ramon and unofficially also known as Eilat-Ramon Airport, is an international airport located in the Timna Valley in southern Israel. Ramon Airport is the second busiest in Israel (after Ben Gurion ...

. The airport ceased all civilian flights on March 31, 2019, now that

in the

Timna Valley The Timna Valley (תִּמְנָע, ) is located in southern Israel in the southwestern Arava/ Arabah, approximately north of the Gulf of Aqaba and the city of Eilat. The area is rich in copper ore and has been mined since the 5th millenniu ...

has opened. In 2020 a plan was announced to establish ''Airpark,'' a large commercial aircraft storage facility at Ovda capable of storing hundreds of aircraft. The facility will be operated in association with IAI, a leading provider of aviation maintenance services. The fact that the co-located military facilities provide security as well as existing aircraft maintenance capabilities in the area were pointed to as favorable location factors in addition to the dry

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

which limits corrosion.

Airlines and destinations

All civilian traffic was transferred to

on 1 April 2019. Prior to its closure to civilian traffic, Ovda airport received mostly international flights from Europe operated as

charter flight Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

s or by

low cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

s. Most domestic flights (to and from

Haifa Airport Haifa Airport (, ''Namal HaTe'ufa Haifa''; ) , also known as Uri Michaeli Airport, is an international airport in Haifa, Israel. It is located to the east of the city, close to Kishon Port and Israel Shipyards and mainly serves civilian flights, ...

and - prior to its closure -

Sde Dov Airport Sde Dov Airport (, ''lit.'' Dov Field, ), also known as Dov Hoz Airport (, ''Nemal HaTe'ufa Dov Hoz'', ) was an airport in Tel Aviv, Israel that mainly handled scheduled domestic flights to Eilat, northern Israel (Haifa, the Galilee, and the G ...

) continued to use

as it was much more centrally located.

Statistics

References

External links

Official website
* {{authority control Airports in Israel Israeli Air Force bases Eilat Buildings and structures in Southern District (Israel) Airports established in 1981

History

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

See also

References

External links