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Flying high: Alicante-Elche airport recovers pre-pandemic figures
More than one million travellers are currently passing through the Costa Blanca's main airport each month
It's been a turbulent ride over the last three years with the pandemic, lockdowns and trade disputes challenging the aviation industry and depressing travel demand.
However, things appear to be taking off and Alicante-Elche airport is flying high so far this year, recovering pre-pandemic figures and currently handling more than one million passengers every month - levels recorded prior to the health crisis in 2019.
The terminal received the highest volume of passengers this year during April, in particular Easter Week, with just shy of 1.5 million passengers, and remains the fifth busiest in Spain. A month earlier, the terminal was named Best Airport in Europe in the 15 to 25 million passenger category by the Airports Council International (ACI).
Throughout 2023, AENA has been stringing together one record month after another with the best figures in history. And between now and after the summer, forecasts point to 12 million passengers, potentially surpassing 2019 numbers.
The figures keep Alicante's airport as the fifth in Spain, in a ranking led by Barajas in Madrid, followed by El Prat in Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga.
Between January and April, a total of 4,066,192 passengers passed through the airport facilities, up 31.77% compared to the same period last year when health restrictions were still in force.
What is more noteworthy is the fact this figure is 4.1% higher than in 2019.
Although the passenger figures are high, this increase is not reflected in the number of flights, with 16.8% less flights than four years ago.
"April was the busiest month of the year, with a total of 1,435,274 passengers, the best April in history," said an Aena spokesperson.
This is a 7% increase on 2019 and 19.5% higher than in 2022.
The number of passengers at the Alicante terminal has exceeded one million twice so far this year, in April and in March, which closed with 1,045,004 passengers.
February saw 790,766 travellers and January recorded 795,148.
Of the total number of passengers in April, 1,433,078 were commercial travellers, of which 1,239,992 flew on international flights – up 4.3% on April 2019 and 20.2% more than in 2022.
The British market continues to be Alicante-Elche's biggest market in terms of tourists.
Breaking down international traffic by nationality, the countries with the most passengers in April 2023 were the United Kingdom, with 502,722; followed by the Netherlands, with 95,172; Belgium, with 79,550; Norway, with 70,894; Germany (69,775); and France (67,337).
Alicante-Elche airport operated a total of 9,252 flights last month, 2% more than in April 2019 and up 9.9% on the same month of 2022.
And according to Aena, the trend suggests that passenger figures will continue to grow until October, with "optimistic" data indicating a record high season.
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