Ben Ya'akov Airport (IATA: RPN, ICAO: LLIB), officially known as Rosh Pina Airport and sometimes called Mahanayim Airfield due to its proximity to Mahanayim, is an Israeli airport located in Rosh Pina. It handles domestic flights to Tel Aviv's Sde Dov Airport and occasionally serves the Israeli Air Force. This airport closed at 2011.
Rosh Pina airport
History
The airport was built in 1943 during the British Mandate for Palestine. Mahanayim served the British army against Vichy France in Syria. In 1948 the airport was taken over by the IAF. In the 1950s, Arkia Israel Airlines began service to the airport, working from a hut which served as a passenger terminal and air traffic control tower. By 1968, a new terminal building had been constructed and three years later, in 1971, a fire station and control tower were erected. Following increased activity, the passenger terminal was further expanded in 1994. In 2008, the airport was closed temporarily for the testing of an Elbit Systems unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).[1]
Accidents
On 19 April 1974 two Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters collided over the airport. One of the helicopters managed to land safely while the other helicopter crashed and caught fire. All eight IDF soldiers on board died.
Since the beginning of the century the airport has seen a decreasing number of passengers (though this trend has stabilized since 2006). The drop off in passenger volume has been attributed to major upgrades undertaken on the road infrastructure to the northern periphery of Israel since the early 2000s, leading to a viable alternative to air service to the region.
