Alicante-Elche Airport is on track for another record-breaking year, even if it’s still early. According to figures from airport operator Aena, February was also a record-breaking month, with the Alicante terminal handling approximately 1.23 million people, 5.3% more than the same month in 2025, which held the previous record. This data is on top of prior record numbers, this time in operations, with 8,002 flights handled, which is 5.6% more than in February 2025.
The airport has made it plain that it will keep growing in the first two months of the year. It is currently rising at a pace of 5%. Between January and February, it handled 2.34 million passengers and 15,500 flights, which is a 5.6% increase over the same time the previous year.
In February, international traffic hit record highs once more. There were 1.07 million foreign travellers, which is a 7.3% increase over the previous year. This is more than 80% of the total for this month. On the other side, there were 154,530 domestic travellers, which is a 7.5% drop.
The UK is still the clear leader in the foreign market, with 369,560 travellers, which is a third of the total. The Netherlands comes in second with 85,736 travellers, and Poland comes in third with more than 85,000 travellers, beating out other more conventional markets. Germany, with 83,872, and Belgium, with 79,941, are the last two in the top three.
Alicante-Elche Airport is in its last month of the low season. Between November and this month, the number of passengers, connections, and flight frequencies has all gone up a lot. After several airlines, including Ryanair, released its schedules, the high season is likely to be the best ever. Ryanair is not only introducing three new routes, but it is also expanding the number of flights on existing routes.
Closing of the runway
The major issue facing the airport this March is the nighttime runway closure. The closure will happen every night from March 2nd to 29th, from midnight to 5:59 a.m. This impacts both people who arrive in Alicante after midnight and the first people who leave, who used to leave between 5:30 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. The reason for this temporary limit on operating hours is to make room for a number of improvements and repairs to the airfield, as well as work on building the new taxiway. Aena said that the airport had already changed the times of the affected flights during the last part of the low season.
