Airport illustration - Jan Vasek

Alicante-Elche airport in southeast Spain reopened on Thursday afternoon. The place, which serves one of the Mediterranean coastal regions among the most tourist of the country, had been closed this Wednesday because of a fire.

The airport resumed operations gradually in the early afternoon, according to Aena's Twitter account, the site manager. The firefighters were still mobilized in the morning to put out the fire.

❗️ Fire in progress at Alicante airport (Spain)

PassagersTerminal passengers during evacuation
🔸 Interrupted traffic and delayed / canceled flights

via @breakingavnews #alicanteairport #AvGeek @AirportAlicante pic.twitter.com/DvELE2Mku0

- Aero Gazette ✈️ (@AeroGazette) January 15, 2020

Sixty flights diverted or canceled

The fire, the causes of which remain unknown, broke out on the roof of the terminal on Wednesday. According to the emergency services, 1,200 m² of roof were affected. It caused the evacuation of passengers and staff as well as the cancellation of flights or the deviation of planes to other airports.

👉 El Aeropuerto de # Alicante- # Elche está al 100% de su capacidad operativa.

ℹ️ Algunas tiendas y restaurantes, así como la sala VIP, situados cerca del lugar del incendio de la cubierta del terminal, encuentran cerrados.

- Aena (@aena) January 17, 2020

A total of 160 flights were scheduled to and from Alicante on Thursday. Before the reopening, 34 had to be diverted to Murcia and 12 to Valencia, according to an airport spokesperson. Wednesday, 32 flights were affected by the fire, between cancellations and diversions. Alicante-Elche airport is the fifth in Spain for passenger traffic according to Aena.

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