Alicante-Elche Airport Breaks February Record with Over 1.2 Million Passengers

Another Record for Alicante's Airport

Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport has set yet another record. The Costa Blanca's main gateway handled nearly 1.23 million passengers during February 2026 — the airport's best February performance in its history and a 5.3% increase on the previous February record set just twelve months earlier.

Aircraft movements also hit a new high for the month, with 8,002 flights recorded — a 5.6% year-on-year increase compared to February 2025. In a month that is traditionally one of the quieter periods in the aviation calendar, these are remarkable figures and a clear statement of the Costa Blanca's enduring and growing appeal as a year-round destination.

The Numbers in Full

Metric	February 2026	Year-on-Year Change
Total passengers	1,230,000+	+5.3%
Aircraft movements	8,002	+5.6%

What makes these figures particularly striking is the context: February is the low season. Summer months at Alicante-Elche regularly see passenger numbers in the 2.5–3 million range, but hitting 1.23 million in the shortest month of the year — driven largely by residential travel, expat routes, and early spring visitors — underlines how fundamentally the airport's profile has changed over the past decade.

Why Alicante-Elche Keeps Breaking Records

The airport's consistent growth is not accidental. Several structural factors are driving passenger numbers higher year after year:

A Growing Expat Community

The Province of Alicante is home to one of the largest concentrations of foreign residents in Spain. British, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, and Belgian communities are deeply embedded across the Costa Blanca — from Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa in the south to Benidorm, Calpe, and Dénia in the north. These residents generate substantial year-round travel: visiting family back home, welcoming visitors, attending appointments, and making leisure trips.

Unlike purely tourist-dependent airports that go quiet in winter, Alicante-Elche benefits from a resident population that flies regularly throughout the year — providing a stable base of demand that insulates the airport from the seasonal swings seen elsewhere.

Route Network Expansion

Airlines have responded to demand by adding routes, increasing frequencies, and extending their winter schedules. Low-cost carriers — particularly Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, and Jet2 — operate extensive networks from Alicante to destinations across the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and beyond. This competition keeps fares competitive and stimulates demand further.

New routes and winter schedule extensions mean that travellers now have more options for reaching the Costa Blanca year-round than at any previous point, contributing directly to the record February numbers.

The Spain Happy Index Effect

The Costa Blanca's status as one of Spain's most desirable places to live — recently confirmed by the Spain Happy Index 2026, which placed multiple Alicante province towns at the top of national quality-of-life rankings — continues to attract new residents. Each new arrival to the region becomes a regular airport user, gradually building the base of habitual travellers that drives year-round passenger numbers.

Property Market Activity

Spain's property market, particularly on the Costa Blanca, remains active. International buyers travelling to view properties, complete purchases, and visit their investments add a significant layer of demand to the airport's winter and spring traffic — a group that is almost invisible in headline tourism statistics but very visible in passenger numbers.

February in Context: The Year-Round Airport

Breaking a February record is different from breaking a summer record — and arguably more meaningful as an indicator of the airport's underlying health. Summer peaks are largely driven by package holiday demand that responds to marketing, pricing, and weather. February demand is driven by genuine, recurring travel need: residents visiting family, property owners checking on investments, business travellers, and the growing cohort of digital nomads and remote workers who have made the Costa Blanca their base.

The fact that both passenger numbers and aircraft movements grew at roughly the same rate (5.3% and 5.6% respectively) suggests that the growth is broad-based — more flights carrying more passengers — rather than being driven by a handful of larger aircraft or a specific route spike.

What to Expect for Easter and Summer 2026

With February already setting records, the outlook for the peak season is exceptional. Easter 2026 is shaping up to be one of the busiest on record for Spanish airports generally — with British bookings to Mallorca up 40% and Canary Islands bookings up 16%, the broader trend of Europeans redirecting travel to Spain is very much alive.

For Alicante specifically, the combination of:

• Record February baseline figures
• Strong advance bookings for spring and summer
• Continued route network expansion
• Growing residential and property-buyer demand

...points to another record-breaking year in prospect. The airport handled approximately 15.8 million passengers in 2025 — its previous annual record — and surpassing that figure in 2026 looks increasingly likely.

A Word of Caution for Easter Travellers

The record figures come with a practical caveat for anyone flying through Alicante-Elche over Easter 2026. Ground handling staff strikes are planned at six Spanish airports — including Alicante — between March 27 and April 6, covering the core of the Holy Week period.

While flights are expected to operate, delays to baggage handling and boarding are likely. Passengers travelling through Alicante this Easter should arrive earlier than usual and, where possible, travel with hand luggage only to avoid the baggage handling variable entirely.

The Costa Blanca's Gateway Comes of Age

Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport is no longer simply a summer holiday airport. The February 2026 record confirms what regular users of the airport have known for some time: this is now a genuinely year-round hub serving one of Spain's most populated and popular coastal regions.

For the residents, expats, property owners, and visitors who pass through its terminals, that means better connections, more choice, and more competitive fares throughout the year. For the Costa Blanca economy as a whole, it means sustained connectivity to markets across Europe — a foundation that supports everything from tourism and property to business and healthcare.

Passenger figures are based on data reported by AENA for February 2026. Annual figures are estimates based on published monthly data.