Haifa Airport was established by the British Mandate in 1934 as its first international airport at the location of RAF Haifa, which originally served the British Army. RAF Haifa already had passenger service by Imperial Airways to Alexandria (since 1931) and Baghdad (since 1932). In 1936 passenger services by Misr Airwork to Beirut and Cyprus were opened. In 1937, these were joined by Palestine Airways services, as well as Ala Littoria regular services to Brindisi and Trieste via Athens. In 1938 a third of the flights into Mandatory Palestine landed in Haifa; but in 1940, civil flights were stopped due to the Second World War in which the airport served the Royal Air Force's operations in the Middle East as RAF Haifa. The RAF station closed in 1948, and the airport re-opened as Haifa Airport. The British Royal Air Force used the Haifa airport between 1918 and 1948. The airport reopened for passenger traffic in 1948 with flights operated by Cyprus Airways. This was followed ten years later by Arkia Israel Airlines flights. It was not until 1994, however, that the airport received international status, and at this time, it was planned that the airport would serve flights to destinations across Europe. Less than a year later, the airport was placed for sale. At this time, great interest in the site was shown by the French construction group, Bouygues, as well as British Aerospace. In 1998, a new terminal was opened. In 2001, talks over the airport expanding restarted when then Finance Minister, Silvan Shalom called for an 800 million NIS upgrade to turn the airport into one of an international standard. Since December 2024 the newly established Israeli airline airHaifa, based at Haifa Airport, operates flights to several domestic and international destinations over the Eastern Mediterranean. Further flights to other East Mediterranean destinations are also expected soon. On 19 August 2025 Haifa Airport’s first-ever 200 m2 duty-free store was opened. The store opened in a ceremony with Sharon Kedmi, CEO of the Israel Airports Authority, and the co-CEOs of LAYAM — the Teddy Sagi Group company that will operate the store. The Israel Airports Authority intends to extend the runway to 1,634 m (5,361 ft) sometime in the 2020s. This will involve extending the runway northwards, across Julius Simon Road, which will then pass in a tunnel underneath the runway.