Jordan rejects Israel's plan to build an airport near Aqaba

Jordan has voiced strong opposition to an Israeli plan to build an airport near the city of Aqaba, citing “several technical and legal issues” according to official Jordanian sources. The Jordan-Israel transport committee met on Thursday to discuss Israel’s plan to build the Timna airport near the border.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Sabah Rafi explained that: “The planned Israeli airport violates Jordan’s sovereignty over its own space and breaches international law, especially Article 1 of the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation. It also violates the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.”

Rafi told Jordan’s state news agency Petra that: “Jordan believes building the Israeli airport in that precise location threatens aviation safety in the region as a whole. The proposed site is very close to the King Hussein airport in Aqaba.”

The news agency noted that the Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport, Laith Dababneh, was heading the Kingdom’s delegation at Thursday’s meeting, while the head of Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority headed the Israeli delegation.