Infrastructures and Facilities
A growing airport
Air links have been highly advantageous for competition and have great strategic value in Alicante-l’Altet airport, situated in the municipal area of Elche. Alicante-l’Altet airport is one of Spain’s most important business and tourist destinations, with weekly flights to over fifty destinations. Up and running since 1967, the airport has seen a steady increase in the number of passengers and goods which continues to rise today.
Currently it is among the five most important airports in the country as regards the volume of passenger traffic inside the Spanish airport network. In 2005, it reached a volume of 8.8 million passengers on 76,098 flights, an increase of 2.7% compared to 2004. Its facilities provide services mainly for the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Albacete.
Alicante-l’Altet airport is one of Spain’s most important business and tourist destinations The growth of L’Altet and its prospects for the future have given rise to plans to expand the terminal, which will be completed in the year 2010.The building work, which is already underway, is estimated at a value of 211 million Euros and will allow the airport to reach a passenger volume of 20 million.
The new L-shaped building will be located to the east of the current building and will consist of a boarding dock parallel to the runway and a passenger terminal joined at a right angle to the existing terminal. It will have 16 gangways for boarding aircraft and a large commercial area. The check-in hall will cover an area of 15,500m2 compared to the 5,700 that it now covers and the number of check-in desks will be increased from 42 to 94; these, added to the 20 in the carpark, will provide a total of 114 posts. The departure lounge will have 40 departure gates, 16 directly connected to the aircraft. To round off the modern services a six floor multi-storey car park will be built over an area of 122,500m2 and will hold 4,139 vehicles.
(imgfoot)L’Altet airportWhen it first started up, the passenger traffic of Alicante-l’Altet airport was strongly linked to tourism, with a high superiority of charter and international flights. Nowadays, tourism continues to be essential , 80% of passengers arrive on international flights, mainly from the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland, although this is increasingly being offset by regular flights with a high proportion of business trips both to Spanish and European destinations.
