Ryanair announces ten new routes for its winter schedule in Alicante

Ryanair said that it would add 10 new flights to its 2025 winter schedule in Alicante. last brings the total number of routes to 79, with destinations like Bratislava, Linz, Salzburg, Bydgoszcz, Rzeszow, Cardiff, Aberdeen, Stockholm Vasteras, Smaland, and Lanzarote.

Toni Pérez, the President of the Alicante Provincial Council, led the “Costa Blanca Air Connectivity” conference in the Alicante Provincial Council Auditorium (ADDA). The purpose of the event was to “talk about how Ryanair’s model has changed in the province and give details about the company’s winter schedule for Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport in 2025.”

According to the provincial institution, the event had speeches by the regional secretary of tourism, José Manuel Camarero; the director of the Costa Blanca Board of Trustees, José Mancebo; the president of Hosbec, Fede Fuster; the president of APHA, Luis Castillo; and Alejandra Ruiz, the director of communications and spokesperson for Ryanair in Spain.

Ruiz talked about how the number of flights on 29 “popular” routes, like Milan, Marrakech, Budapest, and Edinburgh, will go up. This will let Ryanair “increase its winter capacity in Alicante by 12 percent” so that “citizens and visitors have more options and regular connections at the lowest fares in Europe.”

In this context, Ryanair has said that all 16 of the airline’s planes will be based in Alicante during the winter of 2025. This “represents an investment of $1.6 billion,” and it will “support more than 6,700 local jobs and boost tourism in the province year-round,” the company said in a statement.

The company’s full winter schedule is also now available. Flights to and from Alicante start at €21.99 from November until the end of March 2026.

Air Connections

Pérez, on the other hand, said that “air connectivity is one of the strategic pillars for the economic and tourism development of the Costa Blanca.” He also said that “the Alicante airport has established itself as an essential infrastructure, not only for the province but for the entire Mediterranean region.”

In the same vein, the provincial head said, “The ability to connect this territory with Europe and the world is a competitive advantage that boosts the province’s tourism, business, and cultural activities.”

He also said that the terminal “broke a passenger record” in 2024, with more than 18 million passengers, which is 16% more than the year before. It has more than 15.3 million passengers and 95,524 movements in the first nine months of this year. So, “the airport is expected to have more than 20 million passengers this year.”

The Provincial Council says that Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport will have enough for more than eight million seats this winter, which is a 9% increase from the same time last year. There will be more than 42,000 scheduled operations.

Pérez said that the Alicante terminal “has not only become an operations base for companies like Ryanair in recent years, but has also seen an increase in both the number of new routes and flight frequencies.”

The president of the Alicante Provincial Council also said that “the airport channels more than 90% of international tourist arrivals to the province and is the main access point for priority source markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Nordic countries.”

In this context, he said, “this development not only shows how dynamic the tourism sector is, but also how the region’s economy is diversifying.”

Pérez said that “the Irish airline has changed from a low-cost model to a more robust and diverse strategy that strengthens connectivity with key destinations and contributes decisively to the airport’s sustained growth.”

In the same way, leaders of hotel associations have talked about “the democratisation of tourism and the social sustainability that companies like Ryanair have brought to travellers.”

Mancebo, who led the panel discussion, said that “the province is at an important moment in terms of connectivity” and pointed out that the airport is still working with them.

Deseasonalisation of tourism

Pérez also said that Ryanair is adding more direct routes between the province and more than 100 European airports. He said, “The terminal is positioned as one of the busiest in the Mediterranean year-round, with new frequencies that strengthen the deseasonalisation of tourism and facilitate the continuous flow of visitors.”

He said that the amount of traffic “creates a direct and measurable economic impact with stable employment at the operational base, increased tourism spending, and a strengthening of the business ecosystem.”

For this reason, he has called on the central government to make the “necessary” investment to “execute the rail connection between the terminal and the cities of Alicante and Elche (Alicante),” since “economic, environmental, and social sustainability also requires this connection so as not to rely entirely on road transportation.”

FEES Ruiz also said that Aena’s “excessive” fees were to blame for “contributing to the loss of two million seats at regional airports in 2025 between summer and winter schedules.”

In this situation, the airline said again that it had to reduce one million seats from its general schedule in Spain for this winter since Aena rates went up too much (by 6.62%) and incentive measures didn’t work.

The business said that the incentive programs “make regional airports financially unviable,” but it also said that Ryanair “has long championed and invested in them,” with the “support of access to low fares to boost tourism and employment.”