El Arish International Airport
Location and size
The site of the airport is 160 hectares (400 acres) in area. Its terminal has the capacity for 200 passengers per hour. The tarmac, which is 3,019 metres (9,905 ft) long, fits four aircraft.
El Arish is one of the closest airports to the Gaza Strip. El Gora Airport is slightly closer, but smaller. El Arish International Airport is approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) from the Rafah Border Crossing.
Operations
Palestinian Airlines relocated to El Arish International Airport after Yasser Arafat International Airport was rendered non-operational when the runway was destroyed by Israeli forces in 2001. All Palestinian Airlines flights were grounded from 2005 to 2012.
In 2011 the airport served 5,991 passengers (-45.4% vs. 2010).
In May 2012, Palestinian Airlines restarted two weekly flights to Amman, with flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia planned to follow soon after. The airport has been mainly used for Palestinian passengers from the Gaza Strip traveling to Saudi Arabia for hajj and umrah.
Palestinian Airlines ceased operations in December 2020. At the time of Palestinian Airlines' closure, its two Fokker 50 planes—both over 30 years old—operated flights between El Arish, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.
During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, the airport was used as a staging ground for medical flights to the United Arab Emirates.
Current Operations
Egyptair currently serves air transport to Ostend and Cairo. Egyptair uses MS521, an Airbus A330-243(P2F) to operate the route between El Arish and Ostend.