Alicante-Elche Airport breaks September record with 2.1 million passengers

Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernandez Airport has recorded another bumper month, with more than 2.1 million passengers using the terminal during September. International travel continued to drive the growth, led by almost 700,000 British passengers, while the airport outperformed Spain’s four larger airports and the wider Aena network.

September passenger numbers rise 11.5 per cent

Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernandez Airport has set another monthly passenger record after more than 2.1 million travellers passed through the terminal in September.

The airport handled 2,127,532 passengers during the month, an increase of 11.5 per cent compared with September 2025.

International travellers accounted for 1,888,158 passengers, up 12 per cent, underlining the importance of overseas markets to the continuing growth of Alicante-Elche.

British passengers remain the largest international market

British passengers remained comfortably the airport’s largest international market, with almost 700,000 travellers.

Germany followed with around 141,000, ahead of the Netherlands with approximately 119,000 and Poland with 117,000.

Domestic traffic also increased, reaching 235,923 passengers, 7.1 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The figures mean growth was recorded across both international and domestic traffic during September.

Almost 16.9 million passengers in nine months

Between January and September, Alicante-Elche handled 16,867,055 passengers, representing growth of 10.1 per cent compared with the same period of 2025.

Aircraft movements are increasing too, with 13,146 flights handled during September, up 12.4 per cent year on year.

With almost 16.9 million passengers already passing through the airport during the first nine months of 2026, Alicante-Elche is now heading towards another record-breaking year.

Alicante-Elche outpaces Spain’s larger airports

Alicante-Elche remains Spain’s fifth busiest airport by passenger numbers, behind Madrid, Barcelona, Palma and Malaga. However, its September passenger growth exceeded all four larger airports.

The figures also comfortably outpaced Aena’s Spanish airport network, which recorded overall September passenger growth of 4.2 per cent.

The latest results continue a strong year for the Costa Blanca’s main airport, with both passenger numbers and aircraft movements showing substantial year-on-year increases.