Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto de Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, Valencian: Aeroport d'Alacant-Elx Miguel Hernández), (IATA: ALC, ICAO: LEAL), is an international airport located about 9 km (5.6 mi) southwest of the city of Alicante and about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) east of the city of Elche in Spain. Alicante–Elche is the busiest airport in south-eastern Spain and serves both the southern part of the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia.

Quick Facts Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport Aeropuerto de Alicante-Elche Miguel HernándezAeroport d'Alacant-Elx Miguel Hernández, Summary ...

Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport[1] Aeropuerto de Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Aeroport d'Alacant-Elx Miguel Hernández
IATA: ALC ICAO: LEAL
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Aena
Serves	Alicante, Elche, Costa Blanca, Murcia and Albacete
Location	Elche (Province of Alicante)
Focus city for	easyJet Norwegian Air Shuttle Ryanair Vueling
Elevation AMSL	43 m / 141 ft
Coordinates	38°16′56″N 00°33′29″W
Website	aena.es
Map
ALC Location within Spain
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 10/28 3,000 9,842 Asphalt / Concrete
Statistics (2023)
Passengers 15,747,678 Passenger change 22-23 19.2% Aircraft Movements 100,547 Movements change 22–23 11.6%
Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA;[2]

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The airport is a base for Air Nostrum, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Ryanair and Vueling. Passenger traffic increased significantly in the 2010s, beating its own yearly record from 2013 to 2019; in 2019 it set a record at 15 million passengers. It is the largest airport in the Valencian Community (well ahead of Valencia and Catellón),^[3] one of the 50 busiest in Europe and was Spain's fifth busiest airport in 2019.^[4] Up to 80% of all passenger flights are international.^[4] The largest numbers of passengers arrive from the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and Sweden.^[5] Popular domestic destinations are Madrid, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona.

El Altet airport opened on 4 May 1967, replacing the older aerodrome La Rabassa that had served Alicante since 1936. It took its name after the El Altet area (a part of Elche's countryside) where it was built. The first commercial flight that landed at the airport was Convair Metropolitan by Aviaco.^[6] In November 1969, Iberia established regular connections to Madrid and Barcelona.^[7]

Historically, up until 2003, Iberia was the leading airline at the airport.^[8] With the decline of conventional airlines, low-cost EasyJet took the lead in 2004.^[8] In June 2006, Avianca commenced a weekly flight from Bogotá to Barcelona whose outbound leg included a stop in Alicante. This was the city's first transatlantic service. Avianca flew the route with a Boeing 767.^[9][10] In 2008, the airline ended service to Alicante after Spanish authorities granted it permission to operate the flight nonstop in both directions.^[11]

In November 2007, Ryanair, the largest European low-cost airline, established a base at Alicante.^[12] It has since grown to become one of the leading carriers at the airport, and by 2011 it had increased its presence further with eleven based aircraft, 62 routes, and had carried more than 3 million passengers.

In March 2011, Alicante-Elche's current terminal opened, which replaced the previous 2 terminals.^[13]

The airport is located within Elche's comarca and so there had been a historical petition from Elche to include the city's name in the official name of the airport. On 12 July 2013, the name of the airport was officially changed from Aeropuerto de Alicante to Aeropuerto de Alicante–Elche^[14] with the IATA airport code (ALC) remaining unchanged.

In 2015, the number of passengers increased by 5,1% to 10,574,484. The passenger traffic has increased in every year since 2000, with the exception of 2009, 2012 and 2020. By 2015 the largest number of passengers was carried by Ryanair (2,992,984), followed by EasyJet (1,285,221) and Vueling (1,093,494). Norwegian Air Shuttle (893,319) is the distant fourth.^[2][15]

On 23 July 2016, the airport registered its busiest day of operations to date, handling 347 flights—with an average of one flight every 3 minutes—and about 58,000 passengers in a single day.^[16]

In 2020, the airport recorded more than 11 million less passengers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

In 2021, the airport was renamed again, this time to Aeropuerto de Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández, to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Spanish poet and playwright Miguel Hernández.^[17]

In 2023, reached 15.75 mill. passengers, representing an increase of 19.2% compared to 2022.

Terminal N is the only terminal currently in public use.

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Alicante–Elche Airport:

Alicante airport is accessible by buses, taxis, and private cars on automobile road N-338. New car parking was opened in 2011 together with the new terminal. employs a modern sensor system with displays.

• In September 2013 a baby died at the airport shortly after arriving with relatives on a flight from London after the child's mother placed the baby in a carrier onto a conveyor belt used for bulky luggage items. The belt activated due to having detected the carrier's weight, and the baby became tangled in the machine's rollers.^[71]
• On April 10, 2017, a Jet2 Boeing 757-200 suffered a tailstrike during landing, damaging the area around the lower tail. The Spanish Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission determined the copilot, who was flying, left the nose too high during the landing and the captain failed to intervene. The copilot, who was on his final day of training after working for Jet2 for two years, reported to investigators he felt stressed due to pressure from Jet2 and was sleeping poorly. Jet2 fired the copilot following the accident.^[72]
• In January 2020 a fire in the international terminal's roof caused a 24-hour closure of the airport, with the diversion of 160 flights.^[73]

• Transport in Spain
• ENAIRE