Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport
Alicante · Spain · Europe/Madrid
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Airport HistoryEst. 1967
Opened on May 4, 1967 as El Altet Airport, replacing the smaller La Rabassa aerodrome, Alicante's airport grew steadily on the strength of Costa Blanca tourism, with Iberia establishing Madrid and Barcelona routes by 1969. From the mid-2000s it became a major low-cost hub, first for easyJet and then decisively for Ryanair, which opened a base there in 2007. A vastly larger terminal (NAT) opened in 2011, more than sextupling the previous terminal footprint. The airport has been renamed twice this century — first to reflect the Alicante-Elche metropolitan area in 2013, then to honor Elche-region poet Miguel Hernández in 2021 — and now handles roughly 20 million passengers a year, ranking among Spain's busiest airports.
The airport opened on May 4, 1967, replacing the older La Rabassa aerodrome; the first commercial landing was a Convair Metropolitan operated by Aviaco.
Iberia established regular service to Madrid and Barcelona, anchoring the airport's early scheduled network.
easyJet overtook Iberia as the airport's principal airline as low-cost, leisure-driven traffic grew.
Ryanair established a base at Alicante in November 2007 and went on to become the airport's dominant carrier.
A vastly expanded terminal opened on March 23, 2011, with an area more than six times that of the two terminals it replaced and roughly 20 million annual passenger capacity.
Following a long campaign from Elche, the airport's official name changed to reflect both cities on July 12, 2013.
The airport was renamed Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport to mark the 110th anniversary of the Orihuela-born poet's birth.
Editorial content based on Aena's official history page and Wikipedia; 2025 passenger totals (approximately 20 million) are the latest full-year figures available and should be checked against Aena's most current statistics before publication.