New Routes at Alicante-Elche Airport Thrive as High Season Begins

Alicante-Elche Airport has already completed its first month of the high season, and it has done so with flying colours. April marked a new passenger record, the fourth for the month, and several airlines have launched a handful of new routes with more than positive results.

While waiting for connections like Chisinau, Belgrade, or Bordeaux to commence, Ryanair, EasyJet, Jet2, and Norwegian have started operating their new flights to various cities across Europe, achieving more than positive results.

The focus should be on Ryanair's three new routes, which have shown fantastic numbers, prompting the Irish airline to extend their viability for the rest of the year. Thus, flights to the two new Austrian cities of Linz and Salzburg have nearly reached 3,000 passengers for the former, while Mozart's city has reached 2,619 travellers in April, according to airport operator Aena.

Ryanair's new route to Poland, to the city of Bydgoszcz, also surpasses 2,900 passengers in its first month, further expanding connection opportunities with Poland, one of the nationalities that has grown the most in recent years.

EasyJet is also celebrating. Its new route to Athens, unprecedented until now, has taken off swiftly, with 1,946 passengers to the Greek capital from Alicante in April, including the inaugural flight in March. It has also extended its winter route to Naples, which continues to yield good results, reaching 2,952 passengers.

Despite lacking data for Jet2's Bournemouth route, the connection with England exceeds 9,300 passengers thanks to Ryanair's route, now joined by the low-cost carrier. Meanwhile, in Northern Europe, the Riga route has surged with Norwegian joining this connection, previously operated only by Air Baltic, increasing from 3,000 in April 2024 to 7,029 passengers recorded this first month of the high season, where the Norwegian airline has already operated this route.

Passenger numbers are expected to continue growing as the summer period progresses. In fact, it will be at the end of May when Volotea launches the connection with Bordeaux, from which Ryanair withdrew, while on June 3, the route with Belgrade will commence, operated by Wizz Air, one of the fastest-growing airlines so far in 2025.

So far this year, the United Kingdom is the main source market for Alicante-Elche Airport, with 1.75 million passengers and an 8.3% increase. Among international travellers, the Netherlands and Germany follow Great Britain with 371,192 and 334,938 travellers, respectively. The major novelty compared to the previous year is the emergence of Poland ahead of Belgium, with 316,000 passengers. Algeria, with nearly 300% growth and approaching 75,000 passengers between January and April, is another significant development.

Regarding airlines, the top three continue to lead, with Ryanair having 2.3 million passengers, EasyJet with 575,000, and Vueling with 573,000, according to Aena data. They are followed by Jet2 and Norwegian, each with over 320,000, and Transavia and Wizz Air are gaining momentum with 312,200 and 195,073 travellers, respectively.