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Date Published: 14/03/2023

Flying high: Costa Blanca airports register record winter passenger numbers

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Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández and Valencia airports have recorded the best February in their history

Flying high: Costa Blanca airports register record winter passenger numbers

Passenger numbers at Alicante-Elche and Valencia airports have reached record heights in terms of monthly traffic for a second consecutive month, according to February's data from airport operator Aena.

The Alicante-Elche terminal, named Best Airport in Europe in the 15 to 25 million passenger category earlier this month, closed February with 790,766 travellers passing through its gates. This is the highest February figure since 1967 when the airport opened, and represents a 1% increase on the previous best in 2019. It's also 35.5% up on the same period in 2022 when some anti-Covid travel restrictions were still in place.

Of the total figure, 789,827 were commercial passengers, of which 661,386 travelled on international flights, meaning the airport is back to 99% of the February 2019 levels with domestic travellers up by 12.8% over four years.

The increase in footfall was even more evident at Valencia Airport last month, with a record 555,683 passengers, 6% more than in the same month in 2019 and 41.9% more than in 2022.

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Once again, UK travellers accounted for the largest percentage of international passengers who passed through Alicante airport, with 267,268; followed by the Netherlands (70,452); Belgium (56,517); Norway (37,546); Germany (32,972); and Poland (26,908).

Italy proved to be the biggest international market in Valencia, with 87,054 passengers, followed by the UK with 50,376.

In terms of operations, Alicante-Elche operated a total of 5,261 flights, recovering 93.2% of the movements of January 2019 and exceeding by 21.2% those recorded in the same month of 2022. In January, there were 5,443 flights.

Accumulated data for the first two months of the year shows that the terminal handled 1,585,914 passengers, a growth of 1.2% compared to the same period in 2019 and up 50.1% on 2022.

January and February are not typically months with "high tourist traffic", and Aena is confident that the trend will continue into a buoyant summer high-season, particularly with the launch of new low-cost summer routes.

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Image: Aena

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