This week, the plenary session of the Alicante City Council approved an institutional declaration in which it urges the Government to construct the second runway for the Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport. The votes of the Partido Popular, from whom the initiative came, were joined by those of Vox and the PSOE. Compromís and EU-Podem voted against the move.
Only last week, we have seen the national Government of Spain announce huge expansion plans for two airports in the country, including Madrid, and so the timing of the proposals for the Costa Blanca might seem timely in terms of trend, but are most likely late in the sense of budget allocations within the immediate mindset.
Alicante airport broke its absolute passenger record in 2023 with 15.7 million passengers and tourism forecasts on the Costa Blanca for 2024 are expected to be higher. It has meant an increase in passenger traffic of 19.2%, with growth greater than that of Barajas in Madrid, where expansion was announced.
The Councillor for Urban Mobility, Carlos de Juan, has defended that the expansion of the airport “is crucial to supporting the growth of the city, improving tourism and supporting the transit of professionals and businesses.” He added that, currently, this infrastructure “faces challenges due to its limited operational capacity, with only one runway.”
The PSOE spokesperson, Ana Barceló, has assured that the Government of Pedro Sánchez is working on an Airport Master Plan, with the forecast of air infrastructure that Spain needs for the coming years. In a preview of this document, she has indicated that the second runway at the Alicante-Elche airport should come into operation when the facilities reach 22.6 million passengers.
There have, however, been two conflicting reports on the benefits and impact of the second runway, with environmental issues having to be taken into consideration, both in the immediate sense that the expansion would have on the land in El Altet, and the global impact of the increase in flights and how that is currently influencing global warming which itself is having a direct impact on Spain.
In December of 2023, the CO2 emissions recorded across the European flight network was 15.2 million tonnes, which is a 13% increase over the same month of 2022. Moreover, despite the calls and claims of a more sustainable aviation sector, the tonnes per departure figure was 23.8, which is also an increase of 5% compared to the previous year.
