Travel Spain: By AirFrank Sinatra can go to the moon if he likes, but 'Fly me to Perleta Magic' is a bit more achievable, even if these words don't fit the music score. Travel Spain by air normally means arriving to the country on an aircraft, not necessarily getting around by plane. Alicante Airport, originally named El Altet, is the main airport for Alicante and next closest to Murcia, in Spain. In Europe, airline travel to Alicante is still the most common and the cheapest. During midweek, it's possible to get 'no-frills' flights to Alicante airport for prices as low as 20 Euros each way - now, that's a discount and a half. To travel here by air is cheap. In 2008, the airport handled 9,578,308 passengers, making it the sixth busiest airport by passenger numbers in Spain, and one of the busiest airports in Europe. There are two terminals at the airport, located one adjacent to the other. A new terminal is under construction and is due to be finished in 2009. A construction of an AVE high-speed railway terminal within the airport is under consideration. If you are travelling from anywhere in the European Union to Spain for vacations, there are many low-cost airlines to choose from. And, especially in the off-peak season if you book early enough, there can be quite substantial savings. Alicante is growing as a region and this is reflected in the size of the new airport. In time the leisure and business markets will take full advantage of the new facilities. However, the environment at El Altet is reminiscent of a smaller provincial airport. It doesn't have the urgent hustle nor the traffic of Heathrow or Frankfurt or Schipol, but the terminal size now suggests that it can handle far more traffic than before. A dual-carriageway parallels the airport and links directly on one side to the main north-south arterial route, the Carretera de Mediterraneo, E7/A15. The other end connects to the coastal road, the N332 which either leads up the coast directly to the main marina and docks in the heart of Alicante, or south to Santa Pola. It has always been delightfully easy to get to and from El Altet, and the environment there is quite relaxing compared to other airports. The larger terminal building won't make much difference to the ambience other than spread the people a bit thinner, so on occasions you may wonder where everyone is (they might be behind you!). The big bonus we've always found is that disembarkation from the aircraft to street level is normally in record time. Rarely do we ever get delays in baggage collection or passport check. Our best time from aircraft to street curb is 8 minutes, and that's with six other flights in arrival. I suppose it does help to have only one runway, as I'm not too sure how well they could handle the volume if three more runways were suddenly available. Having said that, Heathrow has two runways, and five terminals. Could they manage 8 minutes from the aircraft door to the taxi rank, other than First Class? The less spent in time and money on getting to Alicante in Spain means more to spend on your vacation here. Travel Spain by air, really helps to have a switched-on airport - it is as all airports should be: an efficient transit point between the ground and the air, not a destination in itself. Some of the airlines with scheduled routes into Alicante are:-
Note that the re-building of Alicante airport is almost complete. It has almost quadrupled in size, and now offers a far more pleasant experience in air travel. For visitors from outside Europe, depending on where you are coming from, Madrid is where you'll land (the airport is massive and wonderful shopping), and there many connecting flights to Alicante. New York to Alicante via Madrid is an option from the United States when you're considering vacations in Spain. Taxis are plentiful and quite inexpensive compared to many European destinations. A map is included in the Location section for you, via googlemaps (just in case it is the taxi drivers first day on the job). If you are considering car rental, please refer to the By Car section for details on how to get to Perleta Magic from the airport. |
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