Valencia joins with AENA to study expansion of Alicante-Elche airport
Short term plans include a direct rail connection to the national and European network.
The Valencian Government and AENA, the company responsible for airport management in Spain, have joined together to study the expansion potential of Alicante-Elche airport, producing a short-term roadmap to improve its capacity whilst assuring that plans to add a second runway in the medium term have not been abandoned.
Nuria Montes, regional secretary for Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism, said that the meeting “served to provide information on how to proceed with the expansion of Alicante-Elche airport and specifically the runway capacity in order to increase the current number of passengers” whilst also confirmed progress of plans to modify or expand the airport at Valencia.
She added that one of the issues that would need to be addressed in any expansion project at Alicante-Elche airport is a rail connection that would link it with the trans-European network, a requirement that has recently been approved by the European Union for airports with a capacity of more than 12 million passengers, one which Alicante airport does not currently comply with.
In addition, the regional secretary for Environment, Water, Infrastructure and Territory, Salomé Pradas, said that it was vital that the two expansion projects planned by AENA be addressed “as soon as possible” and that the study phase for both Alicante and Valencia airport terminals be put out for tender in the short term with the aim of having all the administrative procedures being completed before 2027 with the work being carried out over the period 2027-2031.
She added that it was “vital” that the short term work is carried out so that the airports do not become saturated and specifically that the required rail connection is created to Alicante-Elche airport.
In 2023, more than 15.7 million passengers passed through Alicante-Elche airport, an increase of just over 19% on the previous year making it the fifth busiest airport in Spain, whilst almost 10 million passengers used Valencia airport.
