Aqaba airport King Hussein International Airport
Code: AQJ
Code: AQJ
The location of Aqaba is unusual, for within a 15 miles (24 km) radius there are three other countries, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel. The airport has a single runway equipped with a category 1 instrument landing system (ILS). Thanks to its normally excellent weather conditions, the airport is rarely closed, though strong southerly winds bring sandstorms across the Red Sea from Egypt.
The airport has a single 28,000 sq ft (2,600 m2) terminal building with just one departure gate and one baggage carousel, though the building is being extended. The facilities can cope when there is one aircraft to be handled, but on some occasions when there are three aircraft being turned around simultaneously things can become somewhat crowded. The capacity of the Terminal at present is 1.5 million passengers a year. There are also separate buildings for General Aviation and a Royal Pavilion – King Abdullah II owns a palace along the shoreline and regularly visits. The Royal Jordanian Air Academy are regular visitors on land-away cross country training exercises. Annual passenger figures have risen from around 20,000 per year in the early days to over 90,000 in the year 2000.There are currently around 3,000 aircraft movements a year. A significant proportion of these are training flights, including those of the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
The largest operator at Aqaba is Royal Jordanian. It operates about 10 flights a week to Amman, though extras are frequently scheduled, sometimes to coincide with passenger changeover on cruise ships. The airline operates Embraer E175 Regional Jets that undertake the journey in 45 minutes. The airline also undertakes about six charter flights to Europe, with European charter airlines adding a further dozen. Aqaba is an airport that can handle the largest jets.
Just across the border in Israel and nominally serving Eilat a new airport called Ramon Airport opened in 2019 despite earlier proposals to jointly develop airport infrastructure in the region following the Israel Jordan Peace Treaty of 1994.
The airport is located north of the city, close to the border with Israel. Aqaba King Hussein Airport is accessible via the 65 Dead Sea Highway and Airport Street which runs parallel to the runway.
The airport has one terminal consisting of a Departures hall and Arrivals hall. These are not interconnected. Aqaba Airport is modern on the outside, but old on the inside. There are few facilities at Aqaba King Hussein Airport, however there is a VIP Lounge available.
