ISRAEL: Court Signals Delay to Herzliya Airfield Closure as Developers Weigh Compensation Claims

HERZLIYA, Israel

• Justices of Israel's High Court of Justice have proposed pushing back the closure of Herzliya Airport (LLHZ) by at least six months, beyond the current 31 August 2027 deadline.
• The airfield is in the city of Herzliya, in central Israel just north of Tel Aviv. It has a single 903-metre (2,963 ft) asphalt runway, 10/28, and no passenger terminal, and is mainly used by flight schools and general aviation.
• If the proposal is adopted, the airfield would close no earlier than the end of February 2028. No final ruling has been made.
• The proposal came at a hearing, set for 26 October, on a petition by the Israel General Aviation Association and operators at the airfield, among them B. Sky Aviation Services, Monair Aviation, P.N. Aviation and Ilan Arad Aviation.
• The petition was filed in April 2025 against the government, the Ministry of Transport, the Israel Land Authority (ILA), the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) and others. It seeks to keep the airfield open until a suitable alternative is ready.
• The petitioners say closing the airfield without a replacement would hurt Israel's general aviation sector, including flight schools and maintenance services.

• In a filing on 24 September, the state admitted that none of the alternatives it examined would allow all of Herzliya's aviation activity to move.
• The Ministry of Transport proposed a temporary, partial solution at Haifa Airport (HFA), with other activity moving to Rosh Pina, Ramon (ETM), Megiddo and private airstrips. The state said these options could not take all of the maintenance organisations and flight schools now based at Herzliya.
• The IAA said facilities at Haifa to take part of the activity would not be finished until Q1 2028, months after the planned closure. It added that even then Haifa could not fully replace Herzliya, partly because of scheduled carrier Air Haifa's growing operations there.
• A plan for a replacement airfield at Hadera East has been waiting for a planning hearing for about five years.
• The IAA said it had asked for the closure to be delayed at least until the Haifa maintenance facilities were built, but the request was only partly met. It said state bodies had decided that housing on the airfield site was more urgent than keeping general aviation running without interruption.
• The state is still holding to the 31 August 2027 deadline.
• The airfield site covers about 176 dunams (17.6 hectares) and is zoned under the Kiryat Maslul plan for 1,940 homes, 350 assisted-living units and about 33,000 square metres of commercial and office space.
• The site is one of three plans that together make up Herzliya's new northern district, where about 17,000 homes are planned.
• In November 2025, Herzliya municipality and the ILA signed an umbrella agreement worth about NIS 5.5 billion (USD 1.75 billion) to fund infrastructure and public facilities for the city's housing expansion.
• In late 2025, the ILA sold plots on the site to developers for about NIS 1.35 billion (USD 430 million), plus about NIS 170 million (USD 54 million) in development costs. That brings the total to about NIS 1.52 billion (USD 484 million).
• The tenders were won in December 2025 by Aviv Group, Africa Israel Residences, Rami Shviro, Avisror Moshe, Reisdor, Tzemach Hammerman and Guy and Doron Levi.
• Rami Shviro bought a 3.6-dunam plot for 141 apartments for about NIS 173 million (USD 55 million), plus about NIS 14 million (USD 4.5 million) in development costs. Aviv Group and its partners won a plot for 326 rental apartments for about NIS 146 million (USD 46 million), plus about NIS 33 million (USD 10.5 million).
• Several of the winning developers have sought legal advice and are weighing claims against the ILA and the state over delays in handing over the land, Calcalist reported.
• Several developers have hired lawyer Yuval Galon, head of the planning and building department at Israeli law firm Amit Pollak Matalon, Nadlan Center reported.
• A source at one of the developers told Nadlan Center they had planned on receiving the land during 2027 and are now paying financing costs without knowing when they can start building.
• The ILA's tender clarification said the closure date had already been pushed to August 2027 and that winning bidders waived any claims against it on this issue. It does not mention a further delay.
• According to Calcalist, Herzliya's local planning committee does not expect to finish the site's development plan until the end of 2028. That could let the state argue a closure delay causes developers no direct harm for now.

Sources:

• Calcalist
• Nadlan Center