ARCHIVED - Alicante airport will remain closed throughout Monday

The closure of the airport has been extended

Aena has announced that the airport of El Altet in Alicante province will remain closed throughout Monday, and not re-open at 13.00 as had been announced previously.

Last week the airport was closed by a fire which forced the closure of the terminal building in Alicante, and now destinations such as Stockholm, Düsseldorf and Helsinki have reappeared on the arrivals and departures boards at Corvera airport in Murcia with 25 arrivals and 19 departures diverted to the neighbouring airport. 

Videos on social media clearly show water pouring through the roof of the terminal building damaged by fire last week, making the facility inoperable. Aena maintains that the airport has been closed due to the weather conditions, the safety of passengers and staff of top priority.

The airport is expected to resume normal service on Tuesday, although this will depend on the duration and intensity of the storm.

Other flights have been diverted to Valencia, and others cancelled as storm Gloria wreaks havoc across the Spanish peninsular.

Many areas of the Valencia region have been adversely affected by snow and heavy rain, and across Spain 33 provinces are on orange weather alert and 8 on red alert. Two people have been killed by the storm; one a man in Asturias who was killed when a vehicle hit him as he was putting snow chains onto his own vehicle, the second a homeless woman of Rumanian origin, aged 54, who was found dead in a park in Gandia, having apparently died of hypothermia sleeping in the park overnight.

The incident has caused a great deal of negative criticism of social services, although the local authorities insist that the woman and her husband, who had both been sleeping in the park for some time, refused to come into a social centre for the night, although accepted the offer of hot food and additional clothing.

The town of Villena in Alicante was cut off from the outside world for 7 hours due to the heavy snowfalls and hundreds of schools remain closed in the worst affected areas.

The Region of Valencia (Comunidad Valenciana) and the Balearic Islands have been worst hit by the storms, and on Monday the red and orange alert levels have been extended into Aragón and Cataluña.

Image: Elche Local Police

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