The Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández International Airport (IATA code: ALC, ICAO code: LEAL), also popularly known as Alicante-El Altet Airport, El Altet Airport, or Aeroport d'Alacant in Valenciano, is located 8 kilometers to the southwest of the city of Alicante.

The diversity of names by which Alicante airport can be known is due to its geographical location, since it is located in the province of Alicante, within the municipality of Elche (Elx in Valenciano) and in the district of El Altet.

Due to this privileged geographical location of great tourist interest, Alicante airport operates mainly with international routes. Eighty percent of its total passengers are international travelers, mainly to destinations such as the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. As for domestic destinations, flights with Madrid Airport, Barcelona Airport and Palma de Mallorca Airport are the airports with the highest number of connections.

This airport, due to its volume of passengers and cargo, currently occupies the 6th position in the Spanish airport network, even ahead of Valencia Airport, within the same community and its capital, and is among the top 50 airports Europeans. In 2021, Alicante airport registered a passenger volume of 5,841,181 and 55,501 operations. The pre-pandemic figures, however, are different, exceeding 15 million passengers and one hundred thousand operations in 2019.

Among the extensive tourist area that encompasses the influence of Alicante airport on the Costa Blanca, mainly in the provinces of Alicante and Murcia from Denia to Mazarrón, there are cities such as Benidorm, Calpe, Denia, Jávea, Torrevieja, La Manga del Mar Menor , Orihuela, Murcia, Cartagena, being the tourist sector a future guarantee for said airport, together with the industrial and agricultural growth of other important cities such as Elche, Novelda, Alcoy, Elda-Petrel, Ibi, Villena, or even the province of Albacete.

The last reform of the airport was carried out with the "New Terminal Area" (NAT), the new passenger terminal capable of serving 20 million passengers a year, which in turn led to significant improvements in the rest of its infrastructures. The new Alicante terminal was inaugurated on March 23, 2011. With the inauguration of this terminal, terminals T1 and T2 remain out of service, and can be put into operation depending on passenger demand.

GENERAL TECHNICAL DATA OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE

The coordinates of the airport facilities are: 38° 16′ 55.81″ N, 0° 33′ 29.36″ W.Decimal coordinates: 38.282169°, -0.558156° . It has the ICAO/ICAO code LEAL, and the IATA ALC code.

Tracks

Alicante airport currently has a single runway with a 10/28 (101°/279°) orientation, 3,000x45 meters long (9,842x148 feet) at an elevation of 43 meters above sea level.

Terminals

The airport has a terminal building for passengers known as the New Terminal Area (NAT). It also has two other terminals (T1 and T2) that are not currently in service, but can be put into operation depending on demand.