Alex Trelinski
BRITISH travellers are set to make up a third of all passengers using Alicante-Elche airport during the winter season which runs until March 30.
Airport owner AENA says its number of scheduled seats totals 6.4 million- up by 23.2% compared to a year ago, and states that British passengers account for 2.1 million of the total.
The rise is down to the first big increase in low season schedules from the UK since the end of the Covid pandemic.
34,500 commercial flights have been announced for the winter period, which started on Sunday- a 20.8% rise on last year.
Most of the services(5.2 million) are within Europe, with a million domestic flights(up 13%) and a big percentage rise of 165% in flights to North Africa with 116,000 seats- helped by the recovery of routes with Algeria.
AENA concedes that services and passenger numbers could rise or fall due to unforeseen international circumstances.
The last set of monthly passenger totals for September saw 1.56 million passengers using Alicante-Elche airport- of which a third came from the UK.
It was 15.1% up on a year earlier and the highest ever September total, surpassing the previous record of 1.55 million travellers in 2019.
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