Two airports that serve popular Spanish holiday destinations have seen a rise in passenger numbers, with officials warning they cannot cope with the ever-increasing number of visitors – which could affect flight operations. Both Valencia Manises and Alicante-Elche witnessed their busiest April on record, with visitor numbers across Spain generally up 14 per cent on the same month last year.
Valencia Airport received 945,513 passengers in April, up 9.5 percent on the same period last year, according to the latest figures from Aena, the company that operates the airport. Already this year, 3.07 million passengers have passed through the very popular Spanish destination.
If these numbers continue into the summer season, it is expected to exceed its capacity of 10.5 million and become unsustainable, Express reports. Alicante-Elche – which serves the popular resorts of Alicante and Benidorm – is in a similar situation and also recorded its fourth record month of the year with 1,590,828 passengers passing through its doors in April. This was 10.8 percent more than in April 2023.
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According to local reports, Alicante-Elche airport has seen long queues for arrivals taxes in recent weeks, with passengers reportedly waiting for hours. Two weeks ago it was said that 200 people were waiting for taxis and the Ministry of Transport is said to be holding a meeting to find a solution.
After the pandemic, tourism numbers in Spain are steadily increasing. Along with Valencia and Alicante, popular Spanish destinations also include Barcelona and Madrid and the islands of Mallorca, Ibiza, Tenerife and Lanzarote, with many of the islands facing protests over overcrowding.
Experts have warned that it could soon collapse if the expansion to Valencia Manises is not carried out. Currently, Aena plans to start the expansion project at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2025. However, it will not be completed until 2027.
“Valencia’s airport needs to be expanded because it is on the verge of collapse,” agreed Nuria Montes, Valencia’s tourism councilor, in a recent interview. He believes that with the modernization, a total of 15 million passengers per year would be possible by 2030.
The latest report from the Council of Chambers highlighted that the improvements “would allow us to exceed 21 million passengers in an optimistic scenario” by 2030. It also added that if things continue as they are, losses would reach more than £794 million. a loss of 17,500 new jobs per year.
Meanwhile, Carlos Mazón, president of the Generalitat Valenciana, and Carlos Baño, president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, have issued an urgent warning regarding the Alicante-Elche airport that it is also on the verge of collapse and that if nothing is done, the entire province is at risk of paralysis.
According to a recent report, traffic forecasts for 2026 have already been exceeded in 2023, pushing the airport to the breaking point. With this forecast to continue, reaching two million passengers per year, the current infrastructure will not meet the growing demand.
Baño warned that if action was not taken immediately, it could spell economic disaster for the province – losing more than £681 million a year. He also highlighted the threat to employment, as up to 14,800 jobs will be at risk if the second runway is not built between 2024 and 2030.
With tourism being one of the main drivers of the economy in Alicante, problems with the airport could also have serious financial implications for businesses and families across the area. As a result, the president of Aena, Maurici Lucena, announced that he would start the expansion of Alicante-Elche airport by the end of this year in a meeting with infrastructure ministers.
However, Lucena said the renovation will focus on increasing the size of the current terminal, instead of building a second runway, which is what many are calling for. Based on the analysis and technical study, “the investment priority should be to expand the current terminal to increase its capacity in the face of future demand due to the increase in traffic and passengers,” he said.
However, the Alicante Chamber of Commerce believes this is insufficient and predicts that the airport will reach 20 million users by 2026 and is in urgent need of a second runway. Nuria Montes agreed that “their main request is a second runway for Alicante-Elche airport”.
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