Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (IATA: ALC, ICAO: LEAL) is an international airport located about 9 km (5.6 mi) southwest of the city of Alicante and about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) east of the city of Elche in Spain. Alicante–Elche is the busiest airport in south-eastern Spain and serves both the southern part of the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia.

The airport is a base for Air Nostrum, EasyJet, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Ryanair and Vueling. Passenger traffic increased significantly in the 2010s, beating its own yearly record from 2013 to 2019; in 2019 it set a record at 15 million passengers. It is the largest airport in the Valencian Community (well ahead of Valencia and Castellón), one of the 40 busiest in Europe and was Spain's fifth busiest airport in 2019. Up to 80% of all passenger flights are international. The largest numbers of passengers arrive from the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and Sweden. Popular domestic destinations are Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela.

El Altet airport opened on 4 May 1967, replacing the older aerodrome La Rabassa that had served Alicante since 1936. It took its name after the El Altet area (a part of Elche's countryside) where it was built. The first commercial flight that landed at the airport was Convair Metropolitan by Aviaco. In November 1969, Iberia established regular connections to Madrid and Barcelona.

Historically, up until 2003, Iberia was the leading airline at the airport. With the decline of conventional airlines, low-cost EasyJet took the lead in 2004. In June 2006, Avianca commenced a weekly flight from Bogotá to Barcelona whose outbound leg included a stop in Alicante. This was the city's first transatlantic service. Avianca flew the route with a Boeing 767. In 2008, the airline ended service to Alicante after Spanish authorities granted it permission to operate the flight nonstop in both directions.

In November 2007, Ryanair, the largest European low-cost airline, established a base at Alicante. It has since grown to become one of the leading carriers at the airport, and by 2011 it had increased its presence further with eleven based aircraft, 62 routes, and had carried more than 3 million passengers.

In March 2011, Alicante-Elche's current terminal opened, which replaced the previous 2 terminals.

The airport is located within Elche's comarca and so there had been a historical petition from Elche to include the city's name in the official name of the airport. On 12 July 2013, the name of the airport was officially changed from Aeropuerto de Alicante to Aeropuerto de Alicante–Elche with the IATA airport code (ALC) remaining unchanged.

In 2015, the number of passengers increased by 5,1% to 10,574,484. The passenger traffic has increased in every year since 2000, with the exception of 2009, 2012 and 2020. By 2015 the largest number of passengers was carried by Ryanair (2,992,984), followed by EasyJet (1,285,221) and Vueling (1,093,494). Norwegian Air Shuttle (893,319) is the distant fourth.

On 23 July 2016, the airport registered its busiest day of operations to date, handling 347 flights—with an average of one flight every 3 minutes—and about 58,000 passengers in a single day.

In 2020, the airport recorded more than 11 million less passengers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the airport was renamed again, this time to Aeropuerto de Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández, to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Spanish poet and playwright Miguel Hernández.

In 2023, reached 15.75 million passengers, representing an increase of 19.2% compared to 2022.

Terminal N is the only terminal currently in public use. In November 2004, the airport's operator Aena approved plans to construct a new terminal for ALC, as a response to the airport's continuous passenger growth. Construction began in 2005, with an initial planned completion of 2009/10. After more than 5 years of construction, Terminal N (Nueva Área Terminal) officially opened on 23 March 2011. All flight operations were transferred to this terminal on the following day. The first flight to depart from Terminal N was a Ryanair flight to Memmingen. The terminal has an area of 333,500 square metres (3,590,000 sq ft), more than six times the size of the previous 2 terminals and has a capacity of 20 million passengers a year. Terminal N was constructed to the east of terminals 1 and 2 and includes 96 check-in desks, 40 gates, including 15 with airbridges, and 16 baggage claim carousels. The terminal is split into two areas, the processor where the C Gates are held, and the dock where the majority of B Gates are located. Flights within the Schengen Area use both areas of the terminal while flights to non-Schengen destinations only use the dock.

In October 2011, Ryanair terminated 31 routes after airport operator Aena demanded that Ryanair pay over €2 million a year for the use of Terminal N's air bridges, a facility that Ryanair had called "unnecessary" as the airline prefers to use mobile stairways for boarding and disembarking. However, Ryanair have since re-increased their number of routes from the airport.

By 1970, the airport was handling close to 1 million passengers, which prompted the construction of a new passenger terminal, the first phase opening in 1972 for international flights and the second phase opening in 1975 for domestic flights. In 1978, passenger numbers exceeded 2 million. In 1980, the runway was extended to three kilometres.

During the 1990s, the terminals were modernised and expanded in order to accommodate the airport's rising passenger numbers. A new control tower and office building, together with operation and business centres, were constructed and five air bridges were installed to facilitate boarding. Car parking capacity was increased, the aircraft apron was expanded and a new runway exit was also constructed.

While construction on Terminal N was underway, Aena approved plans for an extension to the existing terminal, which would act as an auxiliary until the new terminal was complete. The adjacent extension opened in January 2007 and was named Terminal 2 (T2) and the existing terminal was renamed Terminal 1 (T1).

Terminals 1 and 2 have remained closed, yet structurally intact, since 2011. There has since been speculation that they may reopen in the future. Terminal 1 (T1) had 39 check-in desks, 11 departure gates (5 with airbridges) and 9 baggage claim carousels, while terminal 2 (T2) had 14 check-in desks, 6 gates (none with airbridges), and 2 baggage claim carousels.

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Alicante–Elche Airport:

Airlines	Destinations
Aer Lingus	Dublin
Air Algérie	Algiers, Oran
airBaltic	Riga
Air Europa	Madrid, Palma de Mallorca
Air Nostrum	Seasonal charter: Porto
British Airways	London–Gatwick
Brussels Airlines	Brussels
EasyJet	Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Geneva, Glasgow, Liverpool, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Southend, Manchester, Seasonal: Amsterdam, Athens (begins 31 March 2025), Belfast–City, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Naples, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nice, Prague, Southampton, Zürich
Eurowings	Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Prague, Seasonal: Stuttgart
Finnair	Helsinki
FlyOne	Chișinău (begins 7 June 2025)
Iberia	Ibiza, Madrid Seasonal: Gran Canaria, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife–North
Iberojet	Seasonal charter: Bilbao, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Tenerife–North, Vigo
Icelandair	Reykjavík–Keflavík
Jet2.com	Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bournemouth (begins 3 May 2025), Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London–Luton (begins 3 April 2025), London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
KLM	Amsterdam
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Ålesund, Bergen, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Haugesund, Helsinki, Munich, Oslo, Riga, Sandefjord, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda, Stockholm–Skavsta, Trondheim Seasonal: Aalborg, Aarhus, Billund, Växjö
Play	Reykjavík–Keflavík
Ryanair	Beauvais, Belfast–International, Bergamo, Berlin, Billund, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bremen, Bristol, Budapest, Bydgoszcz (begins 31 March 2025), Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Cork, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Exeter, Gdańsk, Glasgow, Glasgow–Prestwick, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Hahn, Helsinki, Ibiza, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Katowice, Kaunas, Klagenfurt, Kraków, Leeds/Bradford, Linz (begins 1 April 2025), Lisbon, Liverpool, Łódź, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Maastricht/Aachen, Manchester, Marrakech, Marseille, Memmingen, Milan–Malpensa, Münster/Osnabrück, Newcastle upon Tyne, Newquay, Norwich, Nuremberg, Palma de Mallorca, Paderborn/Lippstadt, Pardubice, Porto, Poznań, Rome–Fiumicino, Rzeszów, Salzburg (begins 31 March 2025), Sandefjord, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Shannon, Sofia, Stockholm–Arlanda, Teesside, Tenerife–North, Tétouan, Toulouse, Treviso, Vienna, Vitoria, Warsaw–Chopin, Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze, Wrocław, Zagreb Seasonal: Aberdeen, Barcelona, Bari, Bologna, Bordeaux, Cardiff, Fès, Kerry, Knock, Lanzarote, Menorca, Stockholm–Västerås, Turin, Växjö
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal: Bergen, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Trondheim
SkyUp Airlines	Chișinău (begins 19 May 2025)
Swiss International Air Lines	Zürich Seasonal: Geneva
TAP Air Portugal	Seasonal: Lisbon
Transavia	Amsterdam, Brussels, Eindhoven, Paris–Orly, Rotterdam/The Hague
TUI Airways	Cardiff, East Midlands, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne Seasonal: Birmingham, London–Gatwick
TUI fly Belgium	Antwerp, Brussels, Liège, Ostend/Bruges
Volotea	Asturias, Bilbao Seasonal: Bordeaux (begins 31 May 2025), Luxembourg, Lyon, Nantes
Vueling	Algiers, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bilbao, Brussels, Cardiff, Gran Canaria, Oran, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Paris–Orly, Rome–Fiumicino, Santiago de Compostela, Tenerife–North Seasonal: Ibiza, London–Gatwick
Widerøe	Bergen
Wizz Air	Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Gdańsk, Katowice, Rome–Fiumicino, Sofia, Warsaw–Chopin

Traffic by calendar year

	Passengers	Aircraft movements	Cargo (tonnes)
2000	6,038,266	56,427	7,745
2001	6,542,121	56,550	7,923
2002	7,010,322	59,268	6,548
2003	8,195,454	66,571	5,848
2004	8,571,144	71,387	6,036
2005	8,795,705	76,109	5,193
2006	8,893,720	76,813	4,931
2007	9,120,631	79,756	4,533
2008	9,578,304	81,097	5,982
2009	9,139,607	74,281	3,199
2010	9,382,935	74,474	3,112
2011	9,913,764	75,572	3,011
2012	8,855,764	62,468	2,527
2013	9,638,835	68,305	2,589
2014	10,066,067	71,571	2,637
2015	10,575,288	74,086	3,587
2016	12,344,945	87,113	5,461
2017	13,706,513	89,527	5,040
2018	13,981,320	96,734	4,013
2019	15,047,840	101,408	4,032
2020	3,739,499	37,153	3,519
2021	5,841,181	51,505	3,984
2022	13,202,880	90,109	4,641
2023	15,747,678	100,547	4,462
Source: Aena Statistics

Busiest european routes from ALC (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2021 / 22
1	Manchester	848,435	17%
2	London-Gatwick	737,258	27%
3	Amsterdam	519,059	18%
4	Brussels	473,431	7%
5	Bristol	463,596	29%
6	London-Stansted	449,485	21%
7	Oslo-Gardermoen	393,376	4%
8	Stockholm-Arlanda	382,082	8%
9	East Midlands	360,472	15%
10	Birmingham	346,054	4%
11	Eindhoven	331,246	9%
12	Leeds-Bradford	326,746	19%
13	Dublin	312,866	17%
14	London-Luton	305,893	26%
15	Newcastle	273,402	13%
16	Copenhagen	260,288	9%
17	Glasgow	257,504	9%
18	Liverpool	247,590	28%
19	Edinburgh	243,513	15%
20	Charleroi	228,210	0%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Busiest intercontinental routes from ALC (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Marrakech	57,309	96%
2	Tétouan	42,085	68%
3	Fez	28,399	901%
4	Oran	12,748	191%
5	Algiers	6,746	121%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Busiest domestic routes from ALC (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2021 / 22
1	Palma de Mallorca	458,675	18%
2	Barcelona	431,736	18%
3	Madrid	325,081	16%
4	Santiago de Compostela	207,604	22%
5	Bilbao	190,438	1%
6	Ibiza	139,705	20%
7	Asturias	106,551	0%
8	Tenerife-North	103,451	0%
9	Seville	58,361	6%
10	Vitoria	57,358	80%
11	Gran Canaria	41,310	10%
12	Lanzarote	33,912	23%
13	Menorca	27,301	36%
14	Santander	18,965	165%
15	Vigo	1,859	29%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Alicante airport is accessible by buses, taxis, and private cars on automobile road N-338. New car parking was opened in 2011 together with the new terminal. It employs a modern sensor system with displays and is directly connected with the airport building.

All bus stops in Alicante airport are located on the departures roadway.

• Bus line "C6" connects Alicante city center and passes through Alicante Bus Station, Port of Alicante and Alicante Railway Station. The bus route is available 24/7 and runs every 15 minutes from 6:00 to 23:00 and every 60 minutes from 23:00 to 6:00
• Bus line "1A" connects Elche city center with stops in Torrellano and Elche Industrial Park.
• Bus line "1B" connects Elche city center with stops in Playa El Altet and Arenales del Sol.

There are also hourly bus services to Benidorm, Torrevieja, Santa Pola, Guardamar del Segura and Murcia.

Official taxi service is provided at the airport. Taxi boarding area is located on the right side of arrivals roadway. All vehicles are white colored and can be identified by a green stripe running the length of the vehicle.

Since 2024, ride-hailing companies Uber and Cabify have operated exclusive pickup areas at the airport located on the left side of arrivals roadway.

The new terminal of the airport was built with space allocated for a railway station and an Alicante Tram stop. In 2019, the Generalitat Valenciana granted €50,000 towards a feasibility study in connecting Alicante Airport to the rail network. The same year, the Ministry of Development put out to tender the contract to build the airport rail link to form part of the Cercanías Murcia/Alicante commuter rail network.

• In September 2013 a baby died at the airport shortly after arriving with relatives on a flight from London after the child's mother placed the baby in a carrier onto a conveyor belt used for bulky luggage items. The belt activated due to having detected the carrier's weight, and the baby became tangled in the machine's rollers.
• On April 10, 2017, a Jet2 Boeing 757-200 suffered a tailstrike during landing, damaging the area around the lower tail. The Spanish Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission determined the copilot, who was flying, left the nose too high during the landing and the captain failed to intervene. The copilot, who was on his final day of training after working for Jet2 for two years, reported to investigators he felt stressed due to pressure from Jet2 and was sleeping poorly. Jet2 fired the copilot following the accident.
• In January 2020 a fire in the international terminal's roof caused a 24-hour closure of the airport, with the diversion of 160 flights.

• Transport in Spain
• ENAIRE

Media related to Alicante Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for LEAL at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for ALC at Aviation Safety Network