Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández airport is in Elche. Not near it, not between the two cities — inside the Elche municipal boundary, between the El Altet and Torrellano pedanías, about ten kilometres east of the city centre. It handled 18.4 million passengers in 2024, which makes it the fifth busiest in Spain.
The name puts Alicante first, so almost everybody assumes it is an Alicante address. It is a harmless assumption right up until you need somebody to come to you there.
Where it shows up
Searching for help. People standing in the long-stay car park search for a locksmith in Alicante, get results from the city, and are quoted a journey that is longer than it needs to be. The nearest locksmith to that car park works Elche.
Describing where you are. “The airport” is not a location; it is several. Terminal kerbside, P1, P2, long stay, the hire returns, the hotel car parks on the approach roads — these are meaningfully different places to be met, and the difference between them is ten minutes of somebody driving around.
Hire car paperwork. Which brings us to the thing actually worth knowing.
If the keys are shut in a hire car
Ring the hire desk before you ring anyone else. Three reasons, in order of how much they cost you:
- Your agreement may require it. Many hire contracts oblige the company to deal with a lockout, and arranging your own can void the cover you have already paid for.
- They may simply have a spare. The desk is in the terminal. A walk beats a call-out.
- You may otherwise pay twice, once for the locksmith and once for the hire company’s administration fee for an incident they were not told about.
If they tell you to sort it yourself — which does happen, particularly out of hours — then call a locksmith, and call one who works this municipality.
What can and cannot be done at the kerbside
Opening a locked car door: yes, with proper tools, through the mechanism, without touching the glass. That is a real service and it is what we do.
Anything to do with the key itself: no. Cutting, supplying, copying or programming car keys, transponders, fobs and remotes is not something we do at all, and a lost or broken key is a job for the hire company or a main dealer. Better to hear that on the phone in thirty seconds than to have somebody arrive and tell you.
And if there is a child or an animal in the car
Ring 112 immediately, and do it while you are still reading this. In an Elche summer, where July averages 26 °C and the hottest days pass 35 °C, that is an emergency where the fire service is frequently the fastest thing available. The locksmith conversation can happen afterwards.
If this is where you have got to, the page you want next is opening a car door.