ALICANTE-ELCHE airport is set to smash its annual passenger record with possibly a month to spare according to latest figures from airport operator Aena.
It says that 2.1 million passengers used the Costa Blanca facility in September with nearly 700,000(a third) coming from the United Kingdom.
1.8 million of the total were international travellers.
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The September total is 11.5% higher than a year earlier and goes to over 12% if domestic flights are excluded.
Alicante-Elche airport recorded the highest percentage rise across the Aena network in Spain and was fifth overall in the county behind Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga.
The terminal has now recorded over 16.8 million passengers so far this year(up by 10.1%) and just needs to add a further 3.2 million to beat the annual record set in 2025.
The airport has already clocked up two million passengers and more every month since May.
A new annual high is a racing certainty- based on just a small total of over a million passengers per month for the remainder of 2026.
October 2025 welcomed 1.9 million travellers, and based on current trends, the two million mark will easily be surpassed this month.
That means the yearly record could well be broken in November, ahead of December’s figures.
The UK domination of the United Kingdom market continued with almost 700,000 people using the airport in September, followed way behind by Germany, with around 141,000.
The Netherlands came third with 119,000 followed by the rising market of Poland, with around 117,000 travellers.
There were 13,146 flights in September, a 12.4% increase on a year earlier.
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