ALICANTE FLIGHT STATISTICS IN DETAIL

News

Mark Nolan / 2012-01-12 20:10:56

Monarch fly from Alicante

During 2011, Alicante´s El Altet airport recorded 9,913,764 passengers, handled a total of 75,572 flights and 3011.6 tons of goods, according to the final report from airport operator Aena.

This figure represents a 5.7% growth in passenger traffic at the airport, and is the highest number of passengers carried in the history of the airport since it opened on 4^th May 1967, replacing the older aerodrome La Rabassa, that had served Alicante since 1936.

Aircraft movements during 2011 also increased by 1.5%, compared to the previous year, but goods traffic fell by 3.2%.

Alicante El Altet is Spain´s sixth busiest airport and serves flights from around the world as well as domestic passengers. In 2011 a total of 2,006,057 passengers were served from within Spain, which was a 2.5% drop on last year, but the number of international passengers increased by 7.9%, with 7,891,977 registered travellers.

The was a noticeable decrease in the number of passengers from Germany, with Air Berlin carrying 457,379 passengers, which was a huge drop of 26.3% compared to last year, although the total number of passengers from Germany was 656,954, a less dramatic decrease of 14%, but still holding the position of being second place in terms of international travellers.

Perhaps not surprising is the fact that the UK still holds the number 1 spot, with a total of 4,331,031 passengers coming through the airport, an increase of 11.1% on 2010. Easyjet had reduced their number of flights last year by 3.9%, with 9,032 operations, which meant that their passenger numbers were also down by 7.2% at 1,241,311. Air Nostrum increased their flights to Alicante by 4.1% last year, offering 3,709 operations.

We know that Ryanair had issues with the Alicante operation from previous stories, but they still increased their flights to 22,883, up by 6.8% and brought 3,442,744 passengers, an increase of 9.2%.

Within all of the most recent news, there is also one unsung hero in terms of passengers flying to and from Alicante. In 2011, Monarch increased the number of their flights to 3,288, which was a staggering increase of 24.4%. That also meant an increase in passenger numbers which saw them carry 617,558 passengers last year, representing the biggest increase of all at 27.6%.

This year has already seen an increase in requests for flight slots and to new routes, which many feel will only add to the growth of the airport and the entire area served by El Altet. The future of air travel is without doubt increasing and this will lead to more tourism, more property sales and an increase in the economy of everyone in this every fruitful region.