The president and CEO of Aena, Maurici Lucena, announced today that the airport manager will “expand” the Valencia and Alicante-Elche airports, within the investments included in its Spanish Airport Regulation Document (DORA 2027-2031).
He stated this during the Shareholders’ Meeting held this Thursday in Madrid, in which he announced that Aena is “very seriously preparing” to respond to the increase in air traffic with an “appreciable increase” in investments.
“I want to emphasize, to be clear, in the Valencian Community the airports of Alicante-Elche and Valencia will be expanded. The minister (Óscar Puente) announced this a few weeks ago and we will have more details in the coming weeks and months,” he indicated. .
In this DORA III of 2027-3031, the president of Aena has referred to “the future expansion projects of Málaga, Alicante-Elche, Valencia, Ibiza, Menorca, Bilbao, Santander and Melilla”, as well as the expansions of Madrid- Barajas, Tenerife South and North and Lanzarote and the remodeling of T1 of the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport.
The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, pointed out in March that “as of today and in the next two years”, the Alicante airport “does not need an expansion”, even with the forecasts for an increase in travelers, but that “it is planned in the current infrastructure master plan. “When Aena considers that it is needed, it will do so in advance,” he stressed.
The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, has claimed on several occasions the second runway at the Alicante-Elche Airport and the expansion of the Valencia Airport. In fact, he announced that the regional administration and the Chambers of Commerce would present a study of its impact and need between the end of April and the beginning of May.
Both airports closed in 2023, the best year in their history. The Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport registered 15,747,678 passengers, with an increase of 19.2% compared to 2022. It thus exceeds its previous best number of travelers, 15,048,240, obtained in 2019.
The one in Valencia reached 9,948,141 passengers and a growth of 22.6% compared to 2022. A traffic record that is very close to 10 million travelers and that exceeds the previous best figure for the Valencian terminal recorded in 2019 with 8,539,579 passengers.
Regarding the AENA announcement, the president of the Valencian employers’ association (CEV), Salvador Navarro, has assured that “we are going to wait for the announced expansions to become clear in the coming weeks.” In his opinion, “both expansions are more than justified by the figures; in the case of Valencia, we believe that it would be necessary to technically study whether an expansion or building a new airport is convenient.
The Compromís coalition has reacted in a negative sense, whose deputy Alberto Ibáñez has pointed out that this is a completely unjustified decision because it “irreparably damages the ecosystems and biodiversity of the Valencian Country.”
Ibáñez believes that expanding airports means “more pollution and more premature deaths” and assures that the tourist industry itself recognizes that the tourism model that it entails “represents irresponsibility and the impoverishment of our neighborhoods.” In his opinion, “the PSOE is practicing savage capitalism that provides a highway to the extreme right.”
