PASSENGER records were broken for a fifth successive month at Alicante-Elche airport in May with 1.85 million travellers.

That record May figure is 5.8% up on a year earlier- itself an all-time high.

Around a third of passengers came from the United Kingdom.

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Cumulatively, over 7.2 million people have used the airport during the first five months of 2025, an increase of 10.9% compared to the same period last year.

The bulk of May’s travellers were international passengers accounting for over 1.6 million people- an annual rise of 7.5%.

Domestic passengers totalled over 224,000 which was actually 5% less than a year ago.

Alicante-Elche ran 11,697 flights last month, a 6.2% increase on May 2024.

46,681 services were operated between January and May- 11.5% more than last year.

The UK market dominated in May with 637,443 travellers; followed by Germany, with 112,760; the Netherlands, with 111,597; Belgium, with 88,876; and France, with 87,450.

Airport operator Aena said Alicante-Elche was the fifth-busiest of its facilities in Spain last month.

It stood behind Madrid, Barcelona, Palma and Malaga but comfortably ahead of sixth-placed Gran Canaria.

A MASS brawl in a Villena street resulted in a woman being fatally stabbed with a knife.

Three men aged 23, 40 and 43, and an 18-year-old woman have been arrested by the Guardia Civil.

The melee allegedly between two groups of Bulgarians occurred on Calle Lepanto at around 12.30am on Wednesday.

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The 23-year-old man has been charged with murdering the woman, 42, while the others are accused of causing injuries.

The victim and two wounded men were taken to Elda General Hospital where the woman died.

Residents reported a female shouting for help and for somebody to call the police.

Earlier on, the Villena Policia Local were told about two groups of ‘East Europeans’ throwing tables and chairs at each other at a bar on Avenida de la Constitucion.

A MURCIA-BASED gang supplying fuel and assistance to migrant boats travelling between North Africa and Eastern Spain has been detained by the Guardia Civil.

Seven people have been arrested and two others are still being investigated.

Boats would make perilous sea crossings with landings in Almeria and Alicante provinces as well as the Murcia region.

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The Guardia raided a property in Aguilas where they seized over 2,000 litres of gasoline that had been poured into cans.

Canisters were filled up at service stations and then transferred to pre-arranged refuelling points.

Five boats were impounded along with five cars, eight mobile phones, and three satellite phones.

The criminals took petrol both by land and sea to the illegal taxis along with any other assistance the network required.

That included all kinds of supplies and spare parts for the the boats as well as providing access to land vehicles.

The Guardia Civil pointed out that all of the vessels were unsafe with migrants paying thousands of euros each to make a journey.

The Aguilas detainees have been charged with aiding illegal immigration, transporting and storing dangerous material, and belonging to a criminal gang.