the main problem with Sde Dov is its Not an Intl airport. So unless you're flying to Eliat (or a flight or 2 to the north) One can not use SD.
then its also located North of TelAviv so it depends where you have to go or come from and what time of the day, if in fact its better than BG at all. Ive never flown to/from SD maybe someone who has can better inform us.
the main problem with Sde Dov is its Not an Intl airport. So unless you're flying to Eliat (or a flight or 2 to the north) One can not use SD.
then its also located North of TelAviv so it depends where you have to go or come from and what time of the day, if in fact its better than BG at all. Ive never flown to/from SD maybe someone who has can better inform us.
I use Sde Dov all the time. There is absolutely no way to compare it to TLV -- it is apples and oranges.
From SDV you can fly to Rosh Pina or Kiryat Shemona in the North or to Eilat in the South. There are no other possibilities. The only two airlines that use it are Arkia and Israir.
It is a tiny place, with a terminal about the size of a large McDonalds, but it is very convenient to the city. Unfortunately, it may not stay in use for civilian flights as a number of expensive sections of Tel Aviv have grown up around it and the residents are complaining about the noise.
(I can't imagine buying a home next to an airport and then complaining that there is noise. What did they expect -- Bach concerts?)
I once flew to Greece from SDV on a private prop-plane. It turn out they have an "international terminal" - more like a 2x2 meter room with a passport control booth for both incoming and outgoing traffic. In my previous passport I had the stamp of "Border control Tel Aviv" (compared to border control Ben Gurion you get in TLV).
The domestic terminal is really a large McDonalds size with 3-4 security check points, about 6 check-in counters, one shop for food and newspapers and 2 gates that lead you straight to the busses. Nowdays they park the ATRs next to the runways so they take a bus over there. Before the planes used to come just next to the terminal. In the first picture you can see the runway and the airplane perking area. You don't see much of the terminal area and army base.
By the way, the domestic terminal of TLV is not much larger.
The absurd Dovster was talking about is funny. The area north of "Rokach" street is the most developing and most expensive part of Tel Aviv Real Estate, but is all around the SDV airport. There is also an army freight air base there which will be more difficult to move than the domestic airport.
There are some nice additional details in the SDV picture:
1. You can see in the airplane parking area 2 Arkia ATR 72s and between them an Israir ATR 42.
2. On the bottom right corner you can spot the Tel Aviv old harbor area, now a very hot party and restaurant scene. The building that appears closest hosts the hottest night club in Tel Aviv named (ironically) "TLV" ...
3. The chimney on the right side is the power plant called "Reading". It is a very old and polluting station but is somehow still active.
4. On the far left side you can see the "sea and sun" project which is the only building in the area that is just on the waterfront. After this project was built, no further licenses were given for building buildings so close to the water.
5. Somewhere in the picture hides the headquarters on a very well known Israeli intelligence agency...
