On this page (5 sections)
The route in one look
The pairing is London Gatwick (LGW) to Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC), a single-terminal airport roughly nine kilometres southwest of Alicante and ten kilometres east of Elche. The great-circle distance is 1,431km, about 890 miles, and the carriers timetable the sector at about two hours 30 minutes. That is a gate-to-gate figure counting taxi time at both ends, so the time actually in the air is a little under it.
That 1,431km is the number to remember, because it sits just under a legal threshold. UK261, the passenger rights regime, draws its first line at 1,500km, and Alicante falls about 70km inside it. A delayed arrival of more than three hours on this route is worth £220 per person, and the airline's duty to feed you and put you up starts after two hours of delay. Fly to Malaga instead, 200km further along the same coastline, and both numbers change: £350, and care from three hours. Same coast, same aircraft, often the same airline, different money. It is the sharpest illustration on the site of why the distance matters more than the destination.
The route serves both directions equally. Outbound you leave from whichever Gatwick terminal your airline uses; inbound you land back at the same one, which for four of the five carriers is the South Terminal, with the railway station built into it.
Who flies it: five carriers, four of them low-cost
Alicante is well served without being crowded. easyJet flies the largest share from the North Terminal, as it does everywhere at Gatwick. Ryanair and Vueling both fly it from the South Terminal, giving the route two more low-cost options than most Spanish corridors carry. British Airways covers it through BA Euroflyer, its Gatwick-based short-haul subsidiary, which is the one full-service option and the only fare that routinely includes a hold bag.
Jet2 is the recent addition and the one worth watching. The airline opened Gatwick as a base at the start of the summer 2026 season with six based aircraft, five of them new Airbus A321neos, and named Alicante among its highest-frequency destinations from the new base. Package holidays are Jet2's core business, so its arrival matters most to people buying flights and a hotel together rather than a flight alone. The full carrier list with terminals is on airlines at Gatwick, and what is flying today sits on the departures board.
Four low-cost carriers on one route makes the headline fares low and the total price harder to read. easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and Jet2 all price cabin bags, hold bags and seat selection separately, and the gap between the advertised fare and what a family of four actually pays with luggage is wide. British Airways looks expensive on the search page and often is not once bags are added. The baggage guide sets out what each airline includes; compare the totals rather than the teasers.
When to fly: a summer route with a resident winter
Alicante is more seasonal than Malaga and less seasonal than a pure holiday corridor. The peak is the school summer, when the Costa Blanca fills and every one of the five airlines runs full. What keeps the route alive the rest of the year is not tourism but residency: the coast between Alicante and Torrevieja holds one of the largest British expatriate and second-home populations in Europe, and those people fly back and forth all year. The winter service is thinner rather than absent, with fewer flights and less choice of departure time from November through March.
The best value is May, June and September. The sea is warm from June, the Costa Blanca gets more sunshine hours than almost anywhere else on the Spanish mainland, and the fares sit well below the July and August peak. Easter is a short, sharp spike worth avoiding if the dates are yours to choose. Late October into November is the cheapest flying of the year and still warm enough for the coast, though the evenings turn.
Departure time is worth money on this route because of what happens after you land. The Costa Blanca runs a long way in both directions from the airport, and a late arrival plus a transfer to the far end can put you at a hotel well after midnight. The 05:10 departures are cheap because nobody wants a 03:00 alarm, and the last evening departures are cheap because nobody wants to arrive at 01:00. If the trip is a week or more, take the cheap slot; if it is a long weekend, the middle of the day is worth paying for.
At the airport: one route, two buildings
Four of the five airlines on this route use the South Terminal: British Airways, Jet2, Vueling and Ryanair. easyJet uses the North Terminal, and only the North, which is the airline's stated position for all its Gatwick flying. Because the majority sits at South, easyJet passengers are the ones most likely to get this wrong, and the destination on the ticket gives no clue either way. The airline-by-airline terminal lookup settles it in a few seconds.
If you do arrive at the wrong building, the free shuttle takes about two minutes and runs day and night, but allow ten minutes door to door with bags and a trolley. Coming by train lands you at the South Terminal, since the station is part of that building, so an easyJet passenger arriving by rail should plan the shuttle in rather than meet it as a surprise.
Gatwick asks for two hours before a European departure and check-in desks typically open about three hours ahead. The deadlines that catch people are the airlines' own, and on this route they are tight: easyJet closes bag drop 60 minutes before departure and the gate 30 minutes before, Ryanair charges around £55 per passenger to check in at the desk when free online check-in went unused, and British Airways closes short-haul check-in 45 minutes before departure. The check-in guide lists them by carrier. For the early departures, several airlines run a day-before bag drop at Gatwick that takes the luggage out of the morning entirely.
One thing to pack for on the way home: Gatwick security now allows containers up to two litres, and Spanish airports may still be applying the older 100ml limit on the return leg. Pack the homeward bag to the stricter rule, as the liquids guide explains. If the departure is a dawn one, the airport hotels and the parking comparison are usually cheaper together than a long drive at 03:00 and a week in the short stay car park.
Who it suits, honestly
If you are heading for Benidorm, Alicante city, Calpe, Javea or anywhere on the northern Costa Blanca, this is straightforwardly the right route. Five airlines keep the fares low, the airport is compact and quick to clear, and the transfer times to the popular resorts are short by Spanish standards. For a family week in the summer, the Jet2 and TUI-style package deals out of Gatwick are usually better value than assembling flights and a hotel yourself.
If your destination is at the southern end of the coast, check Murcia before you book. Región de Murcia Airport is closer to Torrevieja, San Javier and the Mar Menor, and the hour you save on the transfer each way is worth more than a small difference in fare. Alicante is the default, not the automatic answer, and the airport that suits your resort is the one to fly to.
The honest comparison with Malaga comes down to which coast you actually want. Alicante is about 25 minutes closer, usually a little cheaper, and quieter in the shoulder months; Malaga has a genuinely mild winter, a deeper airline set and, if things go wrong, the better compensation band. Neither is a substitute for the other, and driving between them is a three to four hour mistake. Pick the coast first, then the route, and treat the £220 against £350 difference as a tiebreaker rather than a reason.