Simon Wade
AN 8% increase in travellers throughout 2019 means that Alicante-Elche Airport will close the year having dealt with over 15 million passengers.
Management company, AENA, look to good connectivity and the out-of-season beauty of the Costa Blanca as the key factors.
A busy summer and ‘an extraordinary low season’ meant that the 13.9 million figures for 2018 were smashed even before the busy festive season.
Saturday December 21 was the busiest day with 48,262 travellers.
The airport still handled over 13,000 on Christmas Day.
The facility now joins a top group of airports that deal with 15-25 million passengers a year.
Airports such as Palma, Málaga, Prague, Athens, Milan and London Stansted.
Brits using Alicante have increased in number by 4.4% to 1.9 million, showing that despite the doubts surrounding Brexit, the region is still a favourite destination.
An outside smoking terrace and more passenger facilities are planned for 2020, and discussions are underway regarding a possible underground train station, linking cities both north and south with the airport.
