Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport

Foundation and early years

El Altet airport opened on 4 May 1967, replacing the older aerodrome La Rabassa that had served Alicante since 1936. It took its name after the El Altet area (a part of Elche's countryside) where it was built. The first commercial flight that landed at the airport was Convair Metropolitan by Aviaco.^[6] In November 1969, Iberia established regular connections to Madrid and Barcelona.^[7]

Historically, up until 2003, Iberia was the leading airline at the airport.^[8] With the decline of conventional airlines, low-cost EasyJet took the lead in 2004.^[8] In June 2006, Avianca commenced a weekly flight from Bogotá to Barcelona whose outbound leg included a stop in Alicante. This was the city's first transatlantic service. Avianca flew the route with a Boeing 767.^[9][10] In 2008, the airline ended service to Alicante after Spanish authorities granted it permission to operate the flight nonstop in both directions.^[11]

In November 2007, Ryanair, the largest European low-cost airline, established a base at Alicante.^[12] It has since grown to become one of the leading carriers at the airport, and by 2011 it had increased its presence further with eleven based aircraft, 62 routes, and had carried more than 3 million passengers.

Development since 2010

In March 2011, Alicante-Elche's current terminal opened, which replaced the previous 2 terminals.^[13]

The airport is located within Elche's comarca and so there had been a historical petition from Elche to include the city's name in the official name of the airport. On 12 July 2013, the name of the airport was officially changed from Aeropuerto de Alicante to Aeropuerto de Alicante–Elche^[14] with the IATA airport code (ALC) remaining unchanged.

In 2015, the number of passengers increased by 5,1% to 10,574,484. The passenger traffic has increased in every year since 2000, with the exception of 2009, 2012 and 2020. By 2015 the largest number of passengers was carried by Ryanair (2,992,984), followed by EasyJet (1,285,221) and Vueling (1,093,494). Norwegian Air Shuttle (893,319) is the distant fourth.^[1][15]

On 23 July 2016, the airport registered its busiest day of operations to date, handling 347 flights—with an average of one flight every 3 minutes—and about 58,000 passengers in a single day.^[16]

In 2020, the airport recorded more than 11 million less passengers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

In 2021, the airport was renamed again, this time to Aeropuerto de Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández, to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Spanish poet and playwright Miguel Hernández.^[17]

In 2023, reached 15.75 million passengers, representing an increase of 19.2% compared to 2022.^{[citation needed]}

Terminal N

Terminal N is the only terminal currently in public use. In November 2004, the airport's operator Aena approved plans to construct a new terminal for ALC, as a response to the airport's continuous passenger growth. Construction began in 2005, with an initial planned completion of 2009/10. After more than 5 years of construction, Terminal N (Nueva Área Terminal) officially opened on 23 March 2011. All flight operations were transferred to this terminal on the following day. The first flight to depart from Terminal N was a Ryanair flight to Memmingen. The terminal has an area of 333,500 square metres (3,590,000 sq ft), more than six times the size of the previous 2 terminals and has a capacity of 20 million passengers a year.^[13] Terminal N was constructed to the east of terminals 1 and 2 and includes 96 check-in desks, 40 gates, including 15 with airbridges, and 16 baggage claim carousels.^[18] The terminal is split into two areas, the processor where the C Gates are held, and the dock where the majority of B Gates are located. Flights within the Schengen Area use both areas of the terminal while flights to non-Schengen destinations only use the dock.

In October 2011, Ryanair terminated 31 routes after airport operator Aena demanded that Ryanair pay over €2 million a year for the use of Terminal N's air bridges, a facility that Ryanair had called "unnecessary" as the airline prefers to use mobile stairways for boarding and disembarking. However, Ryanair have since re-increased their number of routes from the airport.^[19][20]

Former terminals

By 1970, the airport was handling close to 1 million passengers, which prompted the construction of a new passenger terminal, the first phase opening in 1972 for international flights and the second phase opening in 1975 for domestic flights.^[21] In 1978, passenger numbers exceeded 2 million.^[22] In 1980, the runway was extended to three kilometres.^[6]

During the 1990s, the terminals were modernised and expanded in order to accommodate the airport's rising passenger numbers. A new control tower and office building, together with operation and business centres, were constructed and five air bridges were installed to facilitate boarding. Car parking capacity was increased, the aircraft apron was expanded and a new runway exit was also constructed.^[21]

While construction on Terminal N was underway, Aena approved plans for an extension to the existing terminal, which would act as an auxiliary until the new terminal was complete. The adjacent extension opened in January 2007 and was named Terminal 2 (T2) and the existing terminal was renamed Terminal 1 (T1).^[22]

Terminals 1 and 2 have remained closed, yet structurally intact, since 2011. There has since been speculation that they may reopen in the future.^[23][24] Terminal 1 (T1) had 39 check-in desks, 11 departure gates (5 with airbridges) and 9 baggage claim carousels, while terminal 2 (T2) had 14 check-in desks, 6 gates (none with airbridges), and 2 baggage claim carousels.

Annual traffic

Busiest routes

More information Rank, Destination ...

Busiest european routes from ALC (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2021 / 22
1	Manchester	848,435	17%
2	London-Gatwick	737,258	27%
3	Amsterdam	519,059	18%
4	Brussels	473,431	7%
5	Bristol	463,596	29%
6	London-Stansted	449,485	21%
7	Oslo-Gardermoen	393,376	4%
8	Stockholm-Arlanda	382,082	8%
9	East Midlands	360,472	15%
10	Birmingham	346,054	4%
11	Eindhoven	331,246	9%
12	Leeds-Bradford	326,746	19%
13	Dublin	312,866	17%
14	London-Luton	305,893	26%
15	Newcastle	273,402	13%
16	Copenhagen	260,288	9%
17	Glasgow	257,504	9%
18	Liverpool	247,590	28%
19	Edinburgh	243,513	15%
20	Charleroi	228,210	0%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[93]

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More information Rank, Destination ...

Busiest intercontinental routes from ALC (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Marrakech	57,309	96%
2	Tétouan	42,085	68%
3	Fez	28,399	901%
4	Oran	12,748	191%
5	Algiers	6,746	121%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[93]

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More information Rank, Destination ...

Busiest domestic routes from ALC (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2021 / 22
1	Palma de Mallorca	458,675	18%
2	Barcelona	431,736	18%
3	Madrid	325,081	16%
4	Santiago de Compostela	207,604	22%
5	Bilbao	190,438	1%
6	Ibiza	139,705	20%
7	Asturias	106,551	0%
8	Tenerife-North	103,451	0%
9	Seville	58,361	6%
10	Vitoria	57,358	80%
11	Gran Canaria	41,310	10%
12	Lanzarote	33,912	23%
13	Menorca	27,301	36%
14	Santander	18,965	165%
15	Vigo	1,859	29%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[93]

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Bus

All bus stops in Alicante airport are located on the departures roadway.

• Bus line "C6" connects Alicante city center and passes through Alicante Bus Station, Port of Alicante and Alicante Railway Station. The bus route is available 24/7 and runs every 15 minutes from 6:00 to 23:00 and every 60 minutes from 23:00 to 6:00^[94]
• Bus line "1A" connects Elche city center with stops in Torrellano and Elche Industrial Park.
• Bus line "1B" connects Elche city center with stops in Playa El Altet and Arenales del Sol.^[95]

There are also hourly bus services to Benidorm, Torrevieja, Santa Pola, Guardamar del Segura and Murcia.

Taxi

Official taxi service is provided at the airport. Taxi boarding area is located on the right side of arrivals roadway. All vehicles are white colored and can be identified by a green stripe running the length of the vehicle.^[96]

Ride-hailing

Since 2024, ride-hailing companies Uber^[97] and Cabify^[98] have operated exclusive pickup areas at the airport located on the left side of arrivals roadway.^[99]

Rail link extension

The new terminal of the airport was built with space allocated for a railway station and an Alicante Tram stop. In 2019, the Generalitat Valenciana granted €50,000 towards a feasibility study in connecting Alicante Airport to the rail network. ^[100] The same year, the Ministry of Development put out to tender the contract to build the airport rail link to form part of the Cercanías Murcia/Alicante commuter rail network.^[101]