Sde Dov

Sde Dov Airport שדה דב مطار سدي دوف
Sde Dov Airport and Reading Power Station
IATA: SDV ICAO: LLSD SDV Location of airport in Israel
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Israel Airports Authority
Serves	Israel
Location	Tel Aviv, Israel
Elevation AMSL	42 ft / 13 m
Coordinates	32°6′38.99″N 34°46′46.01″E / 32.1108306°N 34.7794472°E / 32.1108306; 34.7794472
Website	www.iaa.gov.il
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 03/21 5,712 1,741 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Total Passenger Movements 703,649 Total Aircraft Movements 36,427

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 Uvda (a.k.a. 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.

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.