Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport has taken another significant step towards a major expansion that could eventually allow it to handle at least 26 million passengers a year.
Airport operator Aena has awarded the contract to design the expansion to a consortium formed by Sener Mobility, Cemosa and Fairbanks Arquitectos.
The contract is worth €15.6 million including taxes and covers the detailed planning of a series of projects intended to increase passenger capacity and improve the way the airport operates. The design work will take place in stages over a total period of up to five years.
For Costa Blanca residents and visitors, one part of the plans is particularly interesting: the expansion includes a new area specifically designed to handle passengers arriving from outside the Schengen zone, with British travellers expected to be its principal users.
A new boarding pier will replace the old T1
The centrepiece of the expansion is a new boarding pier on land currently occupied by the airport’s old T1 building.
Aena plans to demolish the disused former terminal, along with the smaller General Aviation terminal building, allowing construction of the new pier as an extension of T2 running parallel to the runway.
The expansion will provide additional boarding gates, although the final number has yet to be decided.
Passengers using those gates will also have access to airbridges, allowing them to walk directly between the terminal and aircraft rather than relying solely on buses or walking across the apron.
A new area for British passengers
The plans have particular significance for the Costa Blanca’s enormous British market.
The new pier will include a centralised border-control point for passengers travelling to and from countries outside the Schengen area.
That includes the United Kingdom, which the source identifies as the airport’s largest origin market.
In fact, the future terminal extension is planned specifically around processing this non-Schengen traffic, with British passengers expected to account for the bulk of those using it.
The area is also expected to have its own shops and restaurants, together with a dedicated VIP lounge.
For anyone who regularly flies between the Costa Blanca and Britain, this is therefore considerably more than an architectural makeover. The aim is to create additional capacity while making border processing and passenger movement more efficient.
Airport capacity could rise to at least 26 million passengers
Initial estimates suggest the expanded airport could process at least 26 million passengers annually.
That compares with a record of almost 20 million passengers during 2025, and the airport had not yet reached its operational limit even at that level.
The new boarding pier is only one part of a much larger programme.
Under Aena’s DORA III investment plans for 2027 to 2031, around €1.154 billion is earmarked for a wider package of improvements at Alicante-Elche Airport.
Plans include changes to car parks and access roads, improvements to aircraft taxiways and a new rapid-exit taxiway intended to improve runway efficiency.
Taken together, the projects could increase the terminal’s current surface area by almost 30%.
Who will design the expansion?
Aena awarded the design contract to Sener Mobility, Cemosa and Fairbanks Arquitectos for €12.92 million before tax, or €15.64 million including tax.
The original tender had a budget of just over €24 million including taxes.
All three members of the consortium have experience in major transport infrastructure.
Fairbanks Arquitectos also knows Alicante Airport particularly well. The Madrid-based practice worked on the new terminal which opened in March 2011.
Sener Mobility has worked on airport projects internationally, while Cemosa has undertaken airport consultancy work in Spain and Latin America.
Don’t expect a new terminal next year
The €15.6 million announcement does not mean construction of the entire expansion is about to begin.
This contract covers the preparation and design of the individual projects needed to deliver the expansion.
The consortium has an overall period of 60 months, or five years, although Aena intends to develop individual projects progressively rather than waiting five years for one enormous master plan to land on the desk.
Aena is also working on a separate contract for project-management assistance covering supervision of the designs and the management, control and monitoring of the first construction works. That tender carries a separate budget of €38 million before tax, rising to €45.9 million including taxes.
So there is still a long road between awarding a design contract and passengers walking through the finished extension.
But the latest decision moves one of the Costa Blanca’s most important infrastructure projects firmly into the planning stage.
And with a substantial part of the new facilities designed around non-Schengen traffic, Britain’s relationship with Alicante Airport will sit right at the heart of that expansion.
Bridging the Gap recap
- Aena has awarded the contract to design the expansion of Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport.
- Sener Mobility, Cemosa and Fairbanks Arquitectos will carry out the work.
- The contract is worth approximately €15.6 million including taxes.
- The design programme will run in stages over a maximum period of five years.
- A major part of the project involves demolishing the old T1 and constructing a new boarding pier as an extension of T2.
- The new pier will provide additional boarding gates and airbridges.
- A centralised border-control area will handle passengers travelling outside the Schengen zone, with British passengers expected to be its main users.
- The new area is also expected to include shops, restaurants and its own VIP lounge.
- Initial estimates suggest the expanded airport could handle at least 26 million passengers a year.
- The wider DORA III programme for 2027-2031 envisages around €1.154 billion of investment at Alicante-Elche Airport.
- The overall programme could increase the terminal’s surface area by almost 30%.
- This is a design and planning contract, not the start of construction of the complete expansion.
