Airport in the North • A dream is lost between your fingers

After almost 20 years of discussions, publicized quarrels, protests, and especially paralysis in decision-making, it is clear that the hammer has fallen and the Israeli government is expected to approve the construction of a supplementary international airport in Ziklag, in the northern Negev. While the planning alternatives for a supplementary airport in Nevatim or Ramat David are almost complete, and a large part of the infrastructure is already in place, an airport in Ziklag was never planned and, according to a very conservative estimate, it will take another 15-20 years to complete its construction. Therefore, some would say that a decision to build the airport in the area between Rahat and Netivot is essentially not deciding, and a decision to build the supplementary airport from among the two options in question (Nevatim or Ramat David) will allow for faster implementation and a cheaper construction cost.

In recent years, the Israeli government has been eliminating domestic aviation infrastructure and at the same time deciding to develop international aviation infrastructure, but this infrastructure is all migrating south. Thus, north of Ben Gurion Airport, there are two outdated Haifa airports left, empty and with no prospect of future infrastructure (the airport seems more like election promises than something practical). Although all signs indicate that the economic and cultural potential is here and an international airport would help realize it, at the moment no local leader is able to harness the state for a major investment that would change the face of the region (just as they do not know how to utilize the railway projects and there is no plan for mass transportation in the Haifa metropolis).

Another point is the renewal of the license for the Kiryat Shmona airport, which made headlines this week. According to a quote from the Globes newspaper, Transportation Minister Miri Regev said this week: "This is a strategic move that returns air connectivity to the north, as part of an overall concept." While after the closure of Sde Dov and the airport in Ra'anana, it is not clear where Kiryat Shmona residents are left to fly to, with a short runway of 1.3 kilometers, and proximity to the Lebanese border, this cannot be the desired solution for the north.

Economic accelerator

The most prominent example of the region's enormous potential is the choice of the world's largest company (NIVIDA) to establish its largest center outside the US here, which is expected to employ 5,000 people. In a world where the global economy is booming, international aviation infrastructure in the north is essential for creating high-paying jobs and keeping the younger generation in the region. Of course, it's not just the high-tech industry that will benefit from faster connectivity to the world; there are opportunities here for the restoration of cross-border tourism, development and research in the fields of medicine, strengthening academic ties (did you know? About 25% What Israeli academic research is written in Haifa?) and creating connections based on coexistence in the Middle East.

Infrastructure that is a service to the citizen

An airport is not only a place of work and an engine for economic growth, but also essential infrastructure that provides a service to residents. Today, about a third of the country's population lives north of Hadera (about 3.5 million residents), and about 2.5 million of them live north of Haifa. For these residents, getting from Haifa to Ben-Gurion Airport is a significant burden: it is tiring, lengthy, and contributes to road congestion. For example, a train ride from Haifa takes about an hour and twenty minutes each way, and from Kiryat Shmona, where there is train transportation available in both directions, about two and a half hours, and sometimes even more. While in the north accessibility to the country's main exit gate is limited, in the south, through minor infrastructure improvements, a train ride from Beersheba to Ben-Gurion Airport can take only about 40 minutes and a trip from distant Yeruham takes about an hour and a half. Therefore, the government's decision leaves a significant portion of the country's population without accessible service within a reasonable reach.

The bottom line is that people need to fly to an airport, and it needs to be convenient for them to get to it, and the sad experience of operating Ramon Airport shows that if there are no people around, a quality airport, no matter how good, will not fill with planes. In stark contrast to the stagnation at Ramon Airport, a group of entrepreneurs recognized the potential in the north and established Air Haifa. This move gives us a glimpse of the potential in the aviation market in the north, even though the airport is small and has a short runway, which limits the type of planes that can land there.

A gateway to shared life in the region

One of my favorite things about Haifa is, of course, the communal life. How fun to walk through the city's diverse streets and feel that no one cares what your religion or origin is. Sometimes it's easy to forget that in Israel this is not a given, and if Haifa is an inspiring model for communal life in the country, why can't it become a hub for cultural and economic collaborations between Jews and Arabs, from all over the Middle East? In this case, the vision for the city of Haifa runs through our strongest advantage, and the path there runs through an international airport.

I can see how Israeli entrepreneurs are holding business meetings with investors from the United Arab Emirates, India and Europe over hummus in the lower city. Unfortunately, I do not recognize in the current city leadership the same vision or the ability to harness the government to realize it. In contrast to the weak voices that are rising from Haifa and the north, the lobbying that the heads of authorities in the south are doing is exciting and can be heard all the way here. They are embracing the possibility of an international airport in their area, moving to Jerusalem, begging and creating partnerships with politicians.

Haifa and the north of the country need a huge investment in infrastructure in order to improve the quality of life, grow economically and create an alternative to the Dan bloc, especially after the war. There are many government projects between the Carmel and the sea, such as a modern mass transit system, raising budgets to pave roads from the mixed neighborhoods in the Carmel, as part of the Ridge Metro project, electrifying the railway, rehabilitating the crossings to the sea from the streets in the coastal neighborhoods, evacuating the military bases in the Carmel Coast and Bat Galim, and more. Again and again we miss out on projects and budgets that could make Haifa take off, and it's a shame because we're staying put.