Passengers flying from Alicante-Elche Airport with Volotea have escaped the airline’s latest round of winter cuts, with the carrier maintaining its Costa Blanca connections and adding a new route to A Coruña.
Volotea has been trimming parts of its Spanish schedule as it adjusts its winter programme, with flights affected from bases including Bilbao and Asturias.
Alicante, however, is heading in the opposite direction.
The airline will continue serving its established routes from the Costa Blanca while strengthening its domestic network and keeping Nantes on the timetable throughout the winter.
Volotea cuts flights elsewhere in Spain
Volotea’s changes affect around 2.8% of its annual Spanish flight programme.
Bilbao is among the airports taking the biggest hit, with around 100 flights affected between 17 October 2026 and 6 January 2027 across nine domestic and international routes.
These include services linking Bilbao with Alicante, Málaga, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South and Valencia, as well as Naples, Athens, Rome and Venice.
The changes do not mean those routes have disappeared completely. Volotea is adjusting frequencies on selected dates rather than abandoning its Bilbao operation.
The airline will retain its two Airbus A320 aircraft at Bilbao and expects to offer around 665,000 seats there during 2026, broadly in line with the previous year.
Asturias has also seen adjustments, particularly affecting winter services to Fuerteventura and Palma de Mallorca.
Volotea says it will retain its three Airbus A320s at Asturias and currently plans to maintain all 24 routes scheduled from the airport during 2027.
Alicante avoids the reductions
The situation at Alicante-Elche is considerably brighter.
Rather than withdrawing from the Costa Blanca, Volotea is maintaining a useful collection of domestic and French connections.
Asturias remains one of its most important routes from Alicante and is scheduled to operate daily during the low season.
The airline has also increased capacity on the route by replacing the 156-seat Airbus A319 previously used on many services with the larger 180-seat Airbus A320.
During November, that change is expected to increase the number of available seats from 8,160 to 10,800 compared with November 2025.
That works out at an increase of just over 32%.
Bilbao flights remain despite cuts at the other end
The Bilbao connection also remains part of Volotea’s Alicante programme.
The airline has scheduled three weekly services on the route during the winter season, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
This is worth noting because Bilbao is one of the airports affected by Volotea’s wider reductions.
For Costa Blanca passengers, however, the route itself remains available.
There is also additional competition on Alicante-Bilbao. Vueling is operating the route during the winter after taking over a connection that Air Nostrum had served for decades.
A Coruña joins the departure board
The biggest addition to Volotea’s Alicante network is A Coruña.
Flights begin on 2 December, giving Costa Blanca passengers another direct connection with Galicia.
The service will initially operate twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, until 6 January.
It then takes a winter break before returning on 20 March 2027. With the start of the summer schedule, flights are planned for Tuesdays and Fridays.
Alicante is one of five new routes Volotea has announced from A Coruña, alongside Bilbao, Málaga, Valencia and Seville.
For Volotea, the move also marks a return to Galicia.
Nantes becomes a year-round route
There is good news for passengers travelling between the Costa Blanca and western France too.
Volotea’s Alicante-Nantes route is moving beyond its previous seasonal pattern and continuing through the winter.
The airline plans two flights a week during the winter season.
Keeping Nantes through the colder months is another small but useful sign of how Alicante Airport is becoming less dependent on the traditional summer timetable.
Routes that once disappeared with the beach umbrellas are increasingly staying on the departure board throughout the year.
Alicante starts winter with more flights overall
Volotea’s decision fits into a much broader expansion at Alicante-Elche Airport for winter 2026-27.
Airlines are expected to offer around 8.6 million seats during the season, approximately 5% more than last winter.
The airport is scheduled to connect directly with 125 destinations in 31 countries, served by 28 airlines.
Six new routes are joining the winter network, while another 13 destinations that previously operated mainly or exclusively during summer are moving into the winter timetable.
That does not mean every airline is expanding.
Ryanair has dropped several winter connections, while Vueling has also removed Cardiff and London Gatwick from its Alicante schedule.
The overall picture, however, remains one of growth.
New destinations are arriving this winter
Catania and Chisinau joined the winter departure board on 25 October, operated by Ryanair and Wizz Air respectively.
Volotea’s A Coruña service follows in December, with Fly2Galicia launching flights to Santiago de Compostela.
Several other destinations are becoming available during winter after previously being associated primarily with the summer programme.
These include Friedrichshafen, Saarbrücken, Hannover, Luxembourg, Newcastle, Belgrade, Casablanca, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen and Venice Marco Polo.
The result is an increasingly broad winter network for Costa Blanca residents who prefer travelling after the main summer rush.
Bridging the Gap’s recap
- Volotea has made winter flight reductions elsewhere in Spain, affecting around 2.8% of its annual Spanish programme.
- Alicante-Elche Airport has avoided the latest reductions to Volotea’s Costa Blanca network.
- Volotea’s Alicante-Asturias service is scheduled to operate daily during the low season, with larger aircraft increasing capacity.
- Alicante-Bilbao remains on the winter timetable with three Volotea flights a week.
- A new Alicante-A Coruña service begins on 2 December with two weekly flights during its initial winter operation.
- Nantes is moving from a seasonal connection to a year-round Volotea route from Alicante.
- Alicante-Elche Airport as a whole is expected to offer around 8.6 million seats during winter 2026-27, approximately 5% more than last winter.
Enjoy more Alicante-Elche Airport news.
