Carlos Mazón has again demanded that the Government “immediately” launches the second runway at the Alicante-Elche airport, so as not to lose 800 million euros and 14,800 jobs annually.
He has requested the modification of AENA’s current investment plan because “every day of delay is a loss of opportunities for Alicante.”
Mazón is asking for the same treatment as the Malaga airport, whose expansion “was put in place in 2012 long before reaching its maximum capacity.”
A recent study of the economic impact of the need for the second runway at the Alicante-Elche Airport, prepared by the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, shows that the airport is close to saturation levels. It also concludes that it will not be able to cope with future increases in traffic.
During his speech, the head of the Consell announced that the report prepared by the Alicante chamber has been delivered to the management of AENA requesting the modification of AENA’s current investment plan.
He stressed that this demand is technically accredited through rigor and has pointed out the sustainable tourism capacity of Alicante “with a balanced growth, is capable of creating additional employment”, as well as the “effort to advance infrastructures despite being the “last province in last in the General State Budgets”
Similarly, it has proposed the creation of an independent infrastructure authority” in Spain along the lines of AIREF “that prioritizes strategic investments based on objective data.”
The report prepared by the Alicante Chamber of Commerce concludes that currently the Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport is close to saturation levels since the passenger traffic figures planned for 2026 have been exceeded in 2023, with 15.7 million passengers.
Another conclusion drawn by the study is that the airport’s growth capacity will be exceeded in 2026 with close to 20 million passengers and will not be able to cope with future increases in traffic that could be around two million passengers per year and close to 6.5 billion in tourist spending in the period 2024-2030, according to the forecasts of the Alicante chamber entity.
Given these figures, the head of the Consell has demanded that the Spanish government respond to the demand for the second runway at this airport “because the scope of this need no longer needs to be interpreted.”
Likewise, he thanked the work carried out by the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, which he stated “is a first-rate technical endorsement and a guarantee of rigor.”
