Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport
Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (, ), , is —as of 2019— the fifth-busiest airport in Spain based on passenger numbers, and the main airport serving the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia. The airport is located in the municipality of Elche, about east of this city and about southwest of Alicante. Its influence area spans other cities in the Valencia province—the city of Valencia is located about north of the airport—and in the Region of Murcia. The airport is located about north of Murcia. The airport is a base for Air Nostrum, Norwegian  Air Shuttle, Ryanair and Vueling. Passenger traffic has increased significantly in the last decade, beating its own yearly record since 2013 to date; in 2019 it set its new consecutive record at 15 million passengers. It is one of the 50 busiest in Europe. Up to 80% of all passenger flights are international. The largest numbers of passengers arrive from the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and Sweden. Popular domestic destinations are Madrid, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona. History. 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. In November 1969, Iberia established regular connections to Madrid and Barcelona. Historically, up until 2003, Iberia was the leading airline at the airport. With the decline of conventional airlines, low-cost EasyJet took the lead in 2004. Transatlantic service commenced from Alicante in June 2006, when an Avianca Boeing 767 touched down from Bogotá, Colombia. Alicante served as a stop on the outbound portion of the  airline's once-weekly Bogotá-Barcelona flight. Two years later, Avianca announced it would eliminate the halt in Alicante after the Spanish aviation authorities granted it permission to fly nonstop to Barcelona. In November 2007, Ryanair, the largest European low-cost airline established a base at Alicante. 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. 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" with the IATA airport code remaining unchanged, ALC. 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 and 2012. 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. 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. In 2020, the airport recorded more than 11 million less passengers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. Terminals. Terminal N is the  only terminal currently in service. Terminal N. In November 2004, the airport's operator Aena approved plans to construct a new terminal for Alicante-Elche, as a response to the airport's continuous passenger growth. Construction began in 2005, with an initial planned completion of 2009/10. After more than 5 years of construction, Terminal N (Nueva Área Terminal) officially opened on 23 March 2011. All flight operations were transferred to this terminal on the following day. The first flight to depart from Terminal N was a Ryanair flight to Memmingen. The terminal has an area of , more than six times  the size of the previous 2 terminals and has a capacity of 20 million passengers a year. Terminal N was constructed to the east of terminals 1 and 2 and includes 96 check-in desks, 40 gates, including 15 with airbridges, and 16 baggage claim carousels. The terminal is split into two areas, the processor where the C Gates are held, and the dock where the majority of B Gates are located. Flights within the Schengen Area use both areas of the terminal while flights to non-Schengen destinations only use the dock. In October 2011, Ryanair terminated 31 routes  after airport operator Aena demanded that Ryanair pay over €2 million a year for the use of Terminal N's air bridges, a facility that Ryanair had called "unnecessary" as the airline prefers to use mobile stairways for boarding and disembarking. However, Ryanair have since re-increased their number of routes from the airport. Former terminals. By 1970, the airport was handling close to 1 million passengers, which prompted the construction of a new passenger terminal, the first phase opening in 1972 for international flights and the second phase opening in 1975 for domestic flights. In 1978, passenger numbers  exceeded 2 million. In 1980, the runway was extended to three kilometres. In 1996, a major upgrade of the 1970s terminal was completed, in order to accommodate the airport's rising passenger numbers which, by the 1990s, had grown to 9 million a year. A new control tower and office building, together with operation and business centres, were constructed and five air bridges were installed to facilitate boarding. Car parking capacity was increased, the aircraft apron was expanded and a new runway exit was also constructed. While construction on Terminal N was underway, Aena approved plans for an extension to  the existing terminal, which would act as an auxiliary until the new terminal was complete. The adjacent extension opened in January 2007 and was named Terminal 2 (T2) and the existing terminal was renamed Terminal 1 (T1). Terminals 1 and 2 have remained closed, yet structurally intact, since 2011. There has since been speculation that they may reopen in the future. Terminal 1 (T1) had 39 check-in desks, 11 departure gates (5 with airbridges) and 9 baggage claim carousels, while terminal 2 (T2) had 14 check-in desks, 6 gates (none with airbridges), and 2 baggage claim carousels. Ground  transport. 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. Rail link. The new terminal of the airport was built with space allocated for a railway station and an Alicante Tram stop. In 2019, the Generalitat Valenciana granted €50,000 towards a feasibility study in connecting Alicante Airport to the rail network. Bus station. Alicante airport has one bus stop for all the bus lines operating at the airport. The bus stop at Alicante airport is  located outside the departures area of the terminal on level 2. The airport is connected with the city of Alicante by the C6 bus line. There are also hourly bus services to Benidorm and Torrevieja.