Region’s airports post record passenger figures which support expansion demands
Both infrastructures have closed 2024 with the best figures in their history with the arrival of 18.3 million passengers at the Alicante airport and 10.8 million passengers registered at Valencia-Manises airport.
The regional tourism minister, Marián Cano, has reiterated the need to bring forward plans to expand both Alicante-Elche and Valencia-Manises airports as soon as possible after airport operator AENA released its annual report showing that the number of arrivals and flights registered at both destinations reached record levels in 2024.
The report has confirmed that both airport received a record number of passengers last year, prompting the regional government to continue to campaign for the creation of a second runway at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport and the expansion of the terminal at Valencia-Manises airport in order to respond to the growth trend.
In the case of Valencia-Manises, the current operational capacity of 10.5 million passengers annually was surpassed in 2024 – 10.8 million – which has promoted Cano to reiterate that the figures “corroborate” both the forecasts of both the regional government and those of the region’s business community and that an expansion was “essential” for the development of the economy of the Comunidad Valenciana.
In fact, Cano has explained that Valencia-Manises airport, which has a current operational capacity of 10.5 million passengers, closed 2024 with 10.8 million. She said that “these figures corroborate our forecasts and those of the businessmen”, and has defended that it is “essential” to expand Valencian airports, since “they are two key infrastructures in the development of the Valencian economy”.
“We cannot delay the start of these works any longer because studies carried out by the Chambers of Commerce of Alicante and Valencia show that not carrying out these extensions means annual losses of almost 2,000 million euros per year,” explained the minister.
According to the data published by AENA, Valencia airport closed 2024 with a total of 10,811,672 passengers, with an increase of 8.7% compared to 2023. In relation to operations, it dealt with a total of 87,497 flights, 6.4% more than in the previous year.
In addition, data published by AENA show that Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport operated a total of 116,270 flights in 2024, 15.6% more than in the previous year, and registered more than 18,387,387 passengers, 16.8% more than in 2023.
December 2024 Figures
In December, Valencia-Manises Airport handled a total of 794,517 passengers, with a growth of 9.5% compared to December 2023. In addition, the terminal operated a total of 6,645 flights in December, which represents an increase of 9.1% compared to the landing and takeoff movements of the same month in 2023.
Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport registered a total of 1,216,350 passengers last December, which represents a growth of 16.8% compared to the previous year. As for flights, Alicante Airport handled a total of 8,402 movements last month, 17.7% compared to the same month in 2023.
SOURCE: GVA (Innovación, Industria, Comercio y Turismo)
