Yasser Arafat International Airport
Encyclopedia
Yasser Arafat International Airport ( Maṭār Yāsir 'Arafāt ad-Dawli) , formerly Gaza International Airport and Dahaniya International Airport, is located in the Gaza Strip
, in Rafah
close to the Egypt
ian border.
It is owned, and was operated, by the Palestinian Authority, and served as the home airport for Palestinian Airlines
. The airport was able to handle 700,000 passengers per year and operated 24 hours and 364 days a year (closed on Yom Kippur). The airport opened in 1998, but it closed in 2001 after being severely damaged by Israel
i military forces. Its destruction left Gaza Airstrip
as the only serviceable runway in the Gaza Strip.
On July 22nd, 2010, 7,203 Gazan children between the ages of 6 and 15 participated in setting a new Guinness World Record for the simultaneous dribbling of basketballs on the airport's undamaged tarmac ramp. Three weeks later, in August of 2010, the tarmac ramp was dismantled by Palestinians seeking stones and recycled building materials for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after the Gaza War.
, Egypt
, Saudi Arabia
, Spain
, and Germany
and designed by Moroccan
architect
s (modeled after Casablanca airport) and engineers funded by Morocco's King Hassan II. The total cost was $86 million. After a year of construction, it opened on 24 November 1998; attendees at the opening ceremony included Yasser Arafat
and US President Bill Clinton
. At the time, the opening of the airport was described as evidence of progress toward Palestinian statehood. The airport was twinned
with Mohammed V International Airport
, in Casablanca
, Morocco
.
The radar station and control tower were destroyed by Israel Defense Forces
aircraft in 2001 after the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada
, and bulldozers cut the runway apart in January 2002.
From 2001 to 2006, airport staff still manned the ticket counters and baggage areas, although no aircraft flew into or out of the airport during that period. The closest public airport in the area is El Arish International Airport
in Egypt
.
The only remaining runway in Gaza after 2002 is that of the Gaza Airstrip
.
s", or 235 hectares (2.4 km²).
The main terminal building is a two-story 4000 square metre (0.4 ha) Arab Islamic designed building which is decorated with Moroccan tile
, features glass windows framed by arches, and has state-of-the-art equipment. A control tower faces the runway and apron.
The airport was staffed by a total of 400 personnel.
There were no ramps for passengers to disembark directly to the terminal. Stairs were brought out to the planes parked on the apron.
Facilities within the terminal building included:
The airport included 19 other buildings:
.
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, in Rafah
Rafah
Rafah , also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...
close to the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian border.
It is owned, and was operated, by the Palestinian Authority, and served as the home airport for Palestinian Airlines
Palestinian Airlines
Palestinian Airlines is an airline based in Egypt that is wholly owned by the Palestinian Authority. Up until it stopped operations in 2001, the airline had scheduled international services from El Arish, Egypt to Amman, Jordan and pilgrim charter services to Jeddah...
. The airport was able to handle 700,000 passengers per year and operated 24 hours and 364 days a year (closed on Yom Kippur). The airport opened in 1998, but it closed in 2001 after being severely damaged by Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i military forces. Its destruction left Gaza Airstrip
Gaza Airstrip
Gaza Airstrip, also known as Gush Katif Airport, is a small airfield in the Gaza Strip approximately two miles north of the town of Khan Yunis, and adjacent to the UNRWA Khan Younis refugee camp. It is immediately west of the former Israeli settlement of Ganei Tal, and named after the former...
as the only serviceable runway in the Gaza Strip.
On July 22nd, 2010, 7,203 Gazan children between the ages of 6 and 15 participated in setting a new Guinness World Record for the simultaneous dribbling of basketballs on the airport's undamaged tarmac ramp. Three weeks later, in August of 2010, the tarmac ramp was dismantled by Palestinians seeking stones and recycled building materials for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after the Gaza War.
History
The airport was built with funding from JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and designed by Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s (modeled after Casablanca airport) and engineers funded by Morocco's King Hassan II. The total cost was $86 million. After a year of construction, it opened on 24 November 1998; attendees at the opening ceremony included Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
and US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. At the time, the opening of the airport was described as evidence of progress toward Palestinian statehood. The airport was twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with Mohammed V International Airport
Mohammed V International Airport
Mohammed V International Airport is an airport operated by ONDA . Located in Province of Nouaceur, a suburb 30 km south-east of Casablanca, it is the busiest airport in Morocco with almost 7.25 million passengers passing through the airport in 2010...
, in Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
.
The radar station and control tower were destroyed by Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
aircraft in 2001 after the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
, and bulldozers cut the runway apart in January 2002.
From 2001 to 2006, airport staff still manned the ticket counters and baggage areas, although no aircraft flew into or out of the airport during that period. The closest public airport in the area is El Arish International Airport
El Arish International Airport
El Arish International Airport is an airport near El Arish, Egypt.- Operations :The airport is home to Palestinian Airlines however the airline has not been operational since 2000. It is the closest airport to the Gaza Strip. The airline relocated to this airport after Yasser Arafat International...
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
The only remaining runway in Gaza after 2002 is that of the Gaza Airstrip
Gaza Airstrip
Gaza Airstrip, also known as Gush Katif Airport, is a small airfield in the Gaza Strip approximately two miles north of the town of Khan Yunis, and adjacent to the UNRWA Khan Younis refugee camp. It is immediately west of the former Israeli settlement of Ganei Tal, and named after the former...
.
Runways
The airport has one runway of 3080 m x 60 m, but it is no longer operational due to extensive damage to the north and middle sections of the runway by the Israeli Defence Forces. Some of the taxiways are damaged, but the apron did not sustain heavy damage. Locals have destroyed parts of the runway to get to the gravel beneath it to sell as building material.Buildings and Terminal
The total area of the airport is stated in local units as "2,350 dunamDunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s", or 235 hectares (2.4 km²).
The main terminal building is a two-story 4000 square metre (0.4 ha) Arab Islamic designed building which is decorated with Moroccan tile
Zellige
Zellige, zillij or zellij is terra cotta tilework covered with enamel in the form of chips set into plaster. It is one of the main characteristics of the Moroccan architecture...
, features glass windows framed by arches, and has state-of-the-art equipment. A control tower faces the runway and apron.
The airport was staffed by a total of 400 personnel.
There were no ramps for passengers to disembark directly to the terminal. Stairs were brought out to the planes parked on the apron.
Facilities within the terminal building included:
- VIP Lounge
- Baggage Area
- Customs and Immigration
- Two Restaurants
- Medical Facilities
- First Aid Clinic
- Bank
- Post Office
- Tourist Office
- Security Office
The airport included 19 other buildings:
- Fuel Stations - Palestinian Petroleum Corporation
- Aircraft Hangars
- ATS Communication Tower - destroyed
- Passenger Services
- Cargo Terminals
- Airline Operations (Ground Services)
- Fire and Rescue
- Parking Lot
- Maintenance Workshop
- ATC Watchtower/Control Tower (28 metres (91.9 ft) in height)
Ground transportation
The airport was linked by buses and taxis to the rest of the Gaza StripGaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
.
Airlines
A list of airlines once operating at the airport:- Egypt Air
- Palestinian AirlinesPalestinian AirlinesPalestinian Airlines is an airline based in Egypt that is wholly owned by the Palestinian Authority. Up until it stopped operations in 2001, the airline had scheduled international services from El Arish, Egypt to Amman, Jordan and pilgrim charter services to Jeddah...
- Royal Air MarocRoyal Air MarocRoyal Air Maroc is the flag carrier airline of Morocco, headquartered on the grounds of Casablanca-Anfa Airport in Casablanca...
- Royal JordanianRoyal JordanianRoyal Jordanian Airlines is the flag carrier of Jordan with its head office in Amman, Jordan, operating scheduled international services over four continents from its main base at Queen Alia International Airport at Amman Jordan. Royal Jordanian is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization...
/ Royal WingsRoyal WingsRoyal Wings is a Royal Jordanian Group Company and the charter arm of Royal Jordanian, is an airline based in Amman, Jordan. Its main base is Queen Alia International Airport , Amman with a hub at Amman Civil Airport .-History:... - Russavia
- TaromTaromS.C. Compania Națională de Transporturi Aeriene Române TAROM S.A., doing business as TAROM Romanian Air Transport, is the flag carrier and oldest currently operating airline of Romania. The brand name is an acronym for...