A NEW February passenger record has been set at Alicante-Elche airport which logged 1.23 million travellers- up by 5.3% on a year ago.
Figures from airport operator Aena showed that almost a third of passengers- 369,560- came from the United Kingdom.
Over 8,000 flights were run, meaning a 5.6% increase on February 2025.
READ MORE:
- UK pub chain Wetherspoons opens its first foreign bar at Costa Blanca airport
- Costa Blanca airport smashes annual passenger record in 2025 with UK tourists dominating
The first two months of 2026 has seen a total of 2.34 million using the facility, an annual increase of 5%.
International traffic in February reached 1.07 million, up by 7.3% while domestic passengers fell by 7.5% to 154,530.
The UK market dominated the figures, with the Netherlands coming in a distant second with 85,736 travellers, closely followed by Poland.
Germany logged 83,872 travellers with Belgium fifth on 79,941.
Alicante-Elche along with Madrid had the highest percentage passenger growth in February in the Aena network.
Work is taking place during the night throughout March on a new taxiway costing over €16.7 million.
The project will shorten ground time for aircraft taxing before and after take-offs and landings to optimise operations and to create extra slots for airlines to boost schedules.
Plans are also well advanced to take over the old terminal and to demolish the old Civil Aviation building to expand boarding gates in a dedicated facility for non-Schengen Zone travellers, including those to and from the UK.
The work is budgeted to take place between 2027 and 2031 at a cost of €453 million.
The expansion project aims to help deal with up to 26 million passengers annually with last year seeing a new record of just under 20 million travellers.
Click here to read more Costa Blanca News from The Olive Press.
