Madrid–Barajas Airport

Adolfo Suárez
Madrid-Barajas Airport

Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez
Madrid-Barajas
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorAena
ServesMadrid metropolitan area
LocationDistrict of Barajas, Madrid
Opened22 April 1931; 92 years ago (1931-04-22)
Hub for
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL610 m / 2,000 ft
Coordinates40°28′20″N 003°33′39″W / 40.47222°N 3.56083°W / 40.47222; -3.56083
Websiteaena.es
Map
MAD is located in Madrid
MAD
MAD
Location within Madrid
MAD is located in Community of Madrid
MAD
MAD
MAD (Community of Madrid)
MAD is located in Spain
MAD
MAD
MAD (Spain)
MAD is located in Europe
MAD
MAD
MAD (Europe)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
14R/32L 4,100 13,451 Asphalt
18L/36R 3,500 11,482 Asphalt
14L/32R 3,500 11,482 Asphalt
18R/36L 4,350 14,268 Asphalt / Concrete
Statistics (2022)
Passengers50,633,652
Aircraft Movements351,906
Cargo (t)566,372,618
Economic impact (2012)$10.9 billion
Social impact (2012)130,900
Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA
Spanish AIP, AENA

Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas [aeɾoˈpweɾto aˈðolfo ˈswaɾeθ maˈðɾið βaˈɾaxas]) (IATA: MAD, ICAO: LEMD), commonly known as Madrid–Barajas Airport, is the main international airport serving Madrid in Spain. At 3,050 ha (7,500 acres) in area, it is the second-largest airport in Europe by physical size behind Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport. In 2019, 61.8 million passengers travelled through Madrid–Barajas, making it the country's busiest airport as well as Europe's fifth-busiest.

The airport opened in 1931 and has grown to be one of Europe's most important aviation centres. Within the city limits of Madrid, it is 9 km (6 mi) from the city's financial district and 13 km (8 mi) northeast of the Puerta del Sol or Plaza Mayor de Madrid, Madrid's historic centre. The airport name derives from the adjacent district of Barajas, which has its own metro station on the same rail line serving the airport. Barajas serves as the gateway to the Iberian peninsula from the rest of Europe and the world and is a key link between Europe and Latin America. Following the death of former Spanish Prime Minister, Adolfo Suárez, in 2014, the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Transport announced that the airport was to be renamed Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez, Madrid–Barajas. The airport is the primary hub and maintenance base for Iberia and Air Europa. Consequently, Iberia is responsible for more than 40% of Barajas's traffic. The airport has five passenger terminals: T1, T2, T3, T4 and T4S.

History

Early years

The airport was constructed in 1927, opening to national and international air traffic on 22 April 1931, although regular commercial operations began two years later. A small terminal was constructed with a capacity for 30,000 passengers a year, in addition to several hangars and the building of the Avión Club. The first regular flight was established by Lineas Aéreas Postales Españolas (LAPE) with its route to Barcelona. In the 1930s, flights started to serve some European and African destinations, the first international flights from the airport.

Originally, the flight field was a large circle bordered in white with the name of Madrid in its interior, unpaved, consisting of land covered with natural grass. It was not until the 1940s that the flight field was paved and new runways were designed. The first runway which started operation in 1944 was 1,400 metres long and 45 metres wide. By the end of the decade the airport had three runways, none of which exist today. In the late 1940s, scheduled flights to Latin America and the Philippines started.

In the 1950s, the airport supported over half a million passengers, increasing to five runways and scheduled flights to New York City began. The National Terminal, currently T2, began construction in 1954 and opened later that year. In the Plan of Airports of 1957, Barajas Airport is classified as a first-class international airport. By the 1970s, large jets were landing at Barajas, and the growth of traffic mainly as a result of tourism exceeded forecasts. At the beginning of the decade, the airport reached the 1.2 million passengers, double that envisaged in the Plan of Airports of 1957.

In the 1970s, with the boom in tourism and the arrival of the Boeing 747, the airport reached 4 million passengers and began the construction of the international terminal (current T1). In 1974, Iberia, L.A.E. introduced the shuttle service between Madrid and Barcelona, a service with multiple daily frequencies and available without prior reservation.

The 1982 FIFA World Cup brought significant expansion and modernisation of the airport's two existing terminals.

In the 1990s, the airport expanded further. In 1994, the first cargo terminal was constructed and the control tower was renovated. In 1997, it opened the North Dock, which is used as an exclusive terminal for Iberia's Schengen flights. In 1998, it inaugurated a new control tower, 71 m tall and then in 1999 the new South Dock opened, which implies an expansion of the international terminal. During this time, the distribution of the terminals changed: The south dock and most of the International Terminal were now called T1, the rest of the International Terminal and Domestic Terminal were now called T2 and the north dock was called T3.

In November 1998, the new runway 18R-36L started operations (replacing the previous 18–36), 4,400 m long, one of the largest in Europe under expansion plans called Major Barajas. In 2000, it began the construction of new terminals T4 and its satellite, T4S, designed by architects Antonio Lamela, Richard Rogers and Luis Vidal. Two parallel runways to the existing ones were also built.

Development since the 2000s

The new terminals and runways were completed in 2004, but were not in service until 5 February 2006.

Terminal 4, designed by Antonio Lamela, Richard Rogers and Luis Vidal, (winning team of the 2006 Stirling Prize) and TPS Engineers, (winning team of the 2006 IStructE Award for Commercial Structures) was built by Ferrovial and inaugurated on 5 February 2006. Terminal 4 is one of the world's largest airport terminals in terms of area, with 760,000 square meters (8,180,572 square feet) in separate landside and airside structures. It consists of a main building, T4 (470,000 m2) and a satellite building, T4S (290,000 m2), which are approximately 2.5 km apart. The new Terminal 4 is designed to give passengers a stress-free start to their journey. This is managed through careful use of illumination, with glass panes instead of walls and numerous skylights which allow natural light into the structure. With this new addition, Barajas is designed to handle 70 million passengers annually.

During the construction of Terminal 4, two more runways (15L/33R and 18L/36R) were constructed to aid in the flow of air traffic arriving and departing from Barajas. These runways were officially inaugurated on 5 February 2006 (together with the terminals), but had already been used on several occasions beforehand to test flight and air traffic manoeuvres. Thus, Barajas came to have four runways: two on a north–south axis and parallel to each other (separated by 1.3 km) and two on a northwest–southeast axis (and separated by 1.9 km). This allowed simultaneous takeoffs and landings into the airport, allowing 120 operations an hour (one takeoff or landing every 30 seconds).

Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are adjacent terminals that are home to SkyTeam and Star Alliance airlines. Terminal 4 is home to Iberia, its franchise Air Nostrum and all Oneworld partner airlines. Gate numbers are continuous in terminals 1, 2 and 3 (A1 to E89), but are separately numbered in terminal 4 (H, J, K and M, R, S, U in satellite building).

The Madrid–Barcelona air shuttle service, known as the "Puente Aéreo" (in Spanish), literally called "Air Bridge", used to be the busiest route between two EU airports with 55 daily flights in 2012. The schedule has been reduced since the February 2008 opening of the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line which covers the distance in 2+12 hours. Subsequently, the route has been overtaken by London-Dublin and Paris-Toulouse.

On the morning of 30 December 2006, an explosion took place in the carpark building module D attached to Terminal 4. Authorities received a bomb threat at approximately 8:15 local time (7:15 GMT), with the caller stating that a car bomb carried with 800 kg of explosive would explode at 9:00 local time (8:00 GMT). After receiving the warning, police were able to evacuate part of the airport. Later, an anonymous caller stated that ETA claims responsibility for the bombing. As a result of the explosion, two Ecuadorians who were sleeping in their cars died. The whole module D of the car park was levelled creating around 40,000 tonnes of debris. It took workers six days to recover the body of the second victim from the rubble.

In 2007, the airport processed more than 52 million passengers. Barajas was voted "Best Airport" in the 2008 Condé Nast Traveller Reader Awards.

In December 2010, the Spanish government announced plans to tender Madrid–Barajas airport to companies in the private sector for a period of up to 40 years.

On 27 January 2012, Spanair suspended all flights affecting Madrid–Barajas as well as other domestic and international connections. On 20 September 2012, both runways 15/33 were renamed as 14R/32L (the longest) and 14L/32R (the shortest).

On 1 August 2015, the first scheduled Airbus A380 flight landed in Madrid-Barajas in a daily service to Dubai by Emirates.

Following the death of former Spanish Prime Minister, Adolfo Suárez, in 2014, the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Transport announced that the airport would be renamed Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez, Madrid–Barajas. This renaming seeks recognition for Suárez's role as the first Prime Minister of Spain after the restoration of democracy and his key participation in the transition to democracy after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

In late 2018 and early 2019, Iberia renovated its two lounges in Terminal 4, the Dali and Velazquez lounges.

In December 2019, the airport's operator Aena announced plans to significantly expand and renovate the existing installations, increasing their yearly capacity from 70 to 80 million passengers and bridging the architectural gap between the original Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and the newer Terminal 4. The project has a budget of 750 million Euro and is set to be executed in the period from 2022 to 2026.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines serve regular scheduled flights to and from Madrid:

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Athens
Aer Lingus Dublin
Aerolíneas Argentinas Buenos Aires–Ezeiza
Aeroméxico Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
Air Algérie Algiers
Air Arabia Tangier
Seasonal: Nador
Air Cairo Seasonal charter: Sharm El Sheikh
Air Canada Montréal–Trudeau (begins 2 May 2024), Toronto–Pearson
Air China Beijing–Capital
Air Europa A Coruña, Alicante, Amsterdam, Asunción, Barcelona, Bilbao, Bogotá, Brussels, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Cancún, Caracas, Cordoba (AR), Frankfurt, Gran Canaria, Guayaquil, Havana, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Lima, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Málaga, Marrakesh, Medellín–JMC, Miami, Milan–Malpensa, Montevideo, Munich, New York–JFK, Palma de Mallorca, Panama City–Tocumen, Paris–Orly, Porto, Punta Cana, Quito, Rome–Fiumicino, Salvador da Bahia, San Pedro Sula, Santa Cruz de la Sierra–Viru Viru, Santo Domingo–Las Américas, São Paulo–Guarulhos, Tel Aviv, Tenerife–North, Valencia, Vigo, Zürich
Seasonal: Alghero, Athens, Santiago de Compostela (resumes 6 May 2024), Santorini, Tunis
Air France Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Malta Malta (ends 30 March 2024)
Air Serbia Belgrade
Air Transat Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau
airBaltic Riga
American Airlines Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York–JFK, Philadelphia
Arkia Seasonal: Tel Aviv
Avianca Bogotá, Cali, Medellín–JMC
Avianca El Salvador San Salvador
Beijing Capital Airlines Hangzhou
Binter Canarias Gran Canaria, Tenerife–North (both begin 1 February 2024)
Boliviana de Aviación Cochabamba, Santa Cruz de la Sierra–Viru Viru
British Airways London–Heathrow
Brussels Airlines Brussels
Bulgaria Air Sofia
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong
China Eastern Airlines Shanghai–Pudong, Wenzhou (begins 22 November 2023)
Conviasa Caracas
Cubana de Aviación Havana, Santiago de Cuba
Czech Airlines Prague
Dan Air Bacău (begins 15 November 2023, ends 5 December 2023), Brașov (ends 7 November 2023)
Delta Air Lines Atlanta, New York–JFK
easyJet Basel/Mulhouse, Bristol, Edinburgh, Geneva, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Porto
Seasonal: London–Luton
Egyptair Cairo
El Al Tel Aviv
Emirates Dubai–International
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa (resumes 9 December 2023)
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi
Finnair Helsinki
FlyOne Seasonal: Chișinău
Hainan Airlines Chongqing
Iberia A Coruña, Algiers, Alicante, Almería, Amsterdam, Andorra/La Seu d'Urgell, Asturias, Athens, Badajoz, Barcelona, Berlin, Bilbao, Bogotá, Bologna, Bordeaux, Boston, Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Cali, Caracas, Casablanca, Castellón, Chicago–O'Hare, Dakar–Diass, Dallas/Fort Worth, Doha (begins 11 December 2023), Düsseldorf, Faro, Florence, Frankfurt, Funchal, Geneva, Granada, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Hamburg, Havana, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Lima, Lisbon, Logroño, London–Heathrow, Los Angeles, Lyon, Málaga, Marrakesh, Marseille, Melilla, Menorca, Mexico City, Miami, Milan–Linate, Milan–Malpensa, Montevideo, Munich, Nantes, New York–JFK, Nice, Oslo, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Panama City–Tocumen, Paris–Orly, Porto, Prague, Quito, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, Rome–Fiumicino, San José (CR), San Juan, San Salvador, San Sebastián, Santander, Santiago de Chile, Santo Domingo–Las Américas, São Paulo–Guarulhos, Seville, Split, Stockholm–Arlanda, Strasbourg, Tangier, Toulouse, Turin, Valencia, Venice, Vienna, Vigo, Zagreb, Zürich
Seasonal: Bergen, Cairo, Catania, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Gran Canaria, Nador, Olbia, Ponta Delgada, Rovaniemi (begins 2 December 2023), San Francisco, Split, Tirana (begins 28 March 2024), Washington–Dulles
Seasonal charter: Luxor
Iberia Express Copenhagen, Dublin, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, La Palma, London–Gatwick, Lyon, Málaga, Manchester, Nantes, Naples, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South
Seasonal: Edinburgh, Heraklion, Menorca, Mykonos, Reykjavik–Keflavík, Santorini
Iberojet Cancún, Havana, Punta Cana, San José (CR), San José del Cabo, Santiago de Cuba, Tegucigalpa/Comayagua
Seasonal: Mauritius
Seasonal charter: Burgas
Icelandair Seasonal: Reykjavík–Keflavík
ITA Airways Rome–Fiumicino
KLM Amsterdam
KM Malta Airlines Malta (begins 31 March 2024)
Korean Air Seoul–Incheon
Kuwait Airways Kuwait City
LATAM Brasil São Paulo–Guarulhos
LATAM Chile Santiago de Chile
LATAM Perú Lima
LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw–Chopin
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich
Luxair Luxembourg
Middle East Airlines Beirut
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Play Reykjavík–Keflavík
Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas Bogotá, Caracas, Cartagena, Lima, Malabo
Qanot Sharq Tashkent (begins 9 March 2024)
Qatar Airways Doha
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca, Rabat
Seasonal: Nador, Tangier
Royal Jordanian Amman–Queen Alia
Ryanair Alghero, Amman–Queen Alia, Bari, Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin, Birmingham, Bologna, Bristol, Brussels, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Catania, Charleroi, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Essaouira, Fès, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Kraków, Lanzarote, Liverpool, London–Stansted, Luxembourg, Malta, Manchester, Marrakech, Marseille, Menorca, Milan–Malpensa, Nador, Naples, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Porto, Prague, Rabat, Rome–Fiumicino, Santiago de Compostela, Sofia, Tangier, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South, Treviso, Turin, Vienna, Warsaw–Modlin
Seasonal: Agadir, Aqaba (begins 2 November 2023), Billund, Bordeaux, Brindisi, Cagliari, Faro, Kaunas, Lisbon, Tétouan, Venice
Saudia Jeddah, Riyadh
SunExpress Seasonal: İzmir (begins 3 June 2024)
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich
TAAG Angola Airlines Luanda
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon
TAROM Bucharest–Otopeni
Transavia Montpellier, Paris–Orly
Tunisair Tunis
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
United Airlines Newark
Seasonal: Washington–Dulles
Volotea Murcia (begins 3 December 2023), Nantes
Seasonal: Lyon, Olbia, Toulouse
Vueling Barcelona, Florence, Ibiza
Seasonal: Menorca
Wizz Air Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Iași, Kutaisi, Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Fiumicino, Sofia, Timișoara, Tirana, Warsaw–Chopin
World2Fly Cancún, Havana, Punta Cana, Santiago de los Caballeros, Santo Domingo–Las Américas

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Air Canada Cargo Toronto–Pearson
Air China Cargo Hangzhou
Cygnus Air Gran Canaria, Tenerife–North
DHL Aviation[citation needed] Beijing–Capital, Casablanca, Copenhagen, East Midlands, Frankfurt, Leipzig/Halle, London–Heathrow, Miami, Milan–Malpensa, Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Emirates SkyCargo Dubai–Al Maktoum
FedEx Express Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Lufthansa Cargo Casablanca, Frankfurt
Qatar Airways Cargo Doha
Swiftair Casablanca, Gran Canaria, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife–North
Turkish Cargo Houston–Intercontinental, Istanbul, Miami

Traffic and statistics

Airport Map
Interior of Terminal 4
Entrance of Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas Airport
Madrid-Barajas T4 interior
Madrid-Barajas T3 from airside
Terminal 4 Madrid-Barajas
Interior of Terminal 4
Barajas Terminal 4 panorama
Ground control tower at T4S
Main Control tower
Terminal 1 interior
Terminal T-4 Madrid – Barajas Airport

Passenger numbers

Annual passenger traffic at MAD airport. See Wikidata query.
Passengers Aircraft Movements Cargo (tonnes)
2001 34,050,215 375,558 295,944
2002 33,915,302 368,029 295,711
2003 35,855,861 383,804 307,026
2004 38,718,614 401,503 341,177
2005 42,146,784 415,704 333,138
2006 45,799,983 434,959 325,702
2007 52,110,787 483,292 325,201
2008 50,846,494 469,746 329,187
2009 48,437,147 435,187 302,863
2010 49,863,504 433,683 373,380
2011 49,671,270 429,390 394,154
2012 45,195,014 373,185 359,362
2013 39,735,618 333,056 346,602
2014 41,833,374 342,601 366,645
2015 46,828,279 366,605 381,069
2016 50,420,583 378,150 415,774
2017 53,402,506 387,566 470,795
2018 57,891,340 409,832 518,858
2019 61,734,037 426,376 558,567
2020 17,112,389 165,740 401,133
2021 24,135,220 217,537 523,395
2022 50,633,652 351,906 566,372
Source: Aena Statistics

Busiest routes

Busiest international routes from MAD (2022)
Rank Destination Passengers Change 2021 / 22
1 Lisbon 1,538,930 Increase 168%
2 Paris-Orly 1,372,064 Increase 93%
3 Rome-Fiumicino 1,291,377 Increase 182%
4 London-Heathrow 1,184,916 Increase 178%
5 Bogotá 1,095,936 Increase 165%
6 Amsterdam 980,722 Increase 113%
7 Mexico-Benito Juárez 907,328 Increase 78%
8 Brussels 887,208 Increase 116%
9 Paris-Charles de Gaulle 871,273 Increase 146%
10 Frankfurt 794,852 Increase 92%
11 Munich 782,962 Increase 145%
12 Porto 779,479 Increase 236%
13 Buenos Aires-Ezeiza 760,528 Increase 207%
14 New York-JFK 748,423 Increase 184%
15 Miami 689,639 Increase 153%
16 Lima 689,453 Increase 144%
17 London-Gatwick 636,045 Increase 341%
18 São Paulo-Guarulhos 628,327 Increase 156%
19 Zurich 584,046 Increase 77%
20 Geneva 524,183 Increase 94%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo
Busiest domestic routes from MAD (2022)
Rank Destination Passengers Change 2021 / 22
1 Palma de Mallorca 1,880,865 Increase 64%
2 Barcelona 1,716,423 Increase 69%
3 Gran Canaria 1,434,501 Increase 53%
4 Tenerife-North 1,294,010 Increase 47%
5 Ibiza 919,939 Increase 50%
6 Bilbao 647,371 Increase 82%
7 Lanzarote 578,269 Increase 57%
8 Vigo 563,810 Increase 64%
9 A Coruña 538,795 Increase 66%
10 Málaga 530,005 Increase 129%
11 Santiago de Compostela 499,071 Increase 70%
12 Seville 392,613 Increase 97%
13 Fuerteventura 391,094 Increase 44%
14 Tenerife-South 373,582 Increase 62%
15 Menorca 363,442 Increase 14%
16 Asturias 327,047 Increase 72%
17 Valencia 308,797 Increase 65%
18 Alicante 280,304 Increase 94%
19 San Sebastián 198,741 Increase 131%
20 Santander 192,147 Increase 99%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Medical care

The airport is attached to the Ramón y Cajal University Hospital in Madrid as a referral hospital for medical and surgical emergencies requiring hospital care.

In addition, the airport itself has medical rooms and medical personnel attached to the Airport Medical Service to cover transit passengers who need medical attention. It also has 75 Cardiac Rescue Points equipped with defibrillators in the event of cardiorespiratory arrest.

Ground transport

Taxi

All terminals have clearly signed taxi ranks outside the arrivals area. Official taxis are white with a red stripe and have the Madrid City Council coat-of-arms on their doors.

Rail

The Madrid Metro Line connects the airport with city centre station Nuevos Ministerios in Madrid's financial district. The Barajas Line 8 provides a fast route from the underground stations at Terminal 2 (access to T1 and T3) and Terminal 4 into central Madrid. The metro also provides links to stations on the Spanish railway network.

In October 2006, a bid was launched for the construction of a Cercanías link between Chamartín Station and Terminal 4. Now finished, this single Cercanías Line (C-1) links Madrid Barajas Terminal 4, with Chamartín Station and Atocha AVE high-speed train stations. In June 2011 a decision was made to equip this link with dual gauge which will allow AVE high-speed trains to reach the airport station.

The Nuevos Ministerios metro station opened a satellite check-in center in 2002 right by the AZCA business area in central Madrid; the satellite check-in center was permanently closed in 2006 due to security concerns.

Metropolitan Bus

EMT (Madrid Municipal Transport Company) runs regular public bus services between the airport and Madrid (Avenida de América station): bus 200 runs as a complete line – dropping passengers at departures of terminals 1, 2 and 4 before collecting passengers in the reverse order at arrivals. The EMT public night bus service N4 (nicknamed "Buho", Owl) also services from Madrid downtown (Plaza Cibeles) to Barajas (Plaza de los Hermanos Falcó y Alvarez de Toledo, 400m from the airport through a passageway above the highway). EMT also have an express bus linking Barajas airport to Renfe's Atocha Station, the main rail station in Madrid, during day and Plaza Cibeles during night. Unlike the two services mentioned above, this line runs 24 hours of the day during all the days of the year.

CRTM (Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid) runs four bus services between the airport and nearby cities in the metropolitan area:

Long distance coaches

From terminals T1 and T4 the bus company Avanzabus operates routes to Ávila, Castellón, Salamanca, Valencia and Zamora. From terminal T4 the Alsa bus company runs services to the cities of Zaragoza, Barcelona, Valladolid, León, Murcia, Alicante, Gijón, Oviedo, Lugo, Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Burgos, Vitoria, San Sebastián, Santander, Bilbao, Logroño and Pamplona. From terminal T1 the Socibus company runs services to the major cities in Andalusia: Huelva, Córdoba, Cadiz, Jerez and Seville.

Airport People Mover

Madrid Barajas Airport People Mover
Overview
StatusOperational
LocaleAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport
Termini
  • Terminal T4
  • Satellite T4S
Stations2
Service
TypePeople mover
Services1
Operator(s)Bombardier Transportation
Rolling stock19 Bombardier Innovia APM 100 vehicles
Daily ridership27.400 (2012)
History
Opened4 February 2006
Technical
Line length2.7 km (1.7 miles)
Number of tracks2
CharacterUnderground
ElectrificationTwo centre rails
Operating speed37 mph (60 km/h)

In early 2006, the first driverless transit system in Spain and the longest airport people mover system in Europe began transporting passengers between the new terminal (T4) and a new satellite terminal (T4S). Deploying the CITYFLO 550 automatic train control technology, the system is the only mode of transportation for passengers between the two terminals, which are spaced two kilometres apart. Bombardier became the only contractor for the completely underground shuttle system, including the construction of the civil works, operation and maintenance of the system.

The route is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) in length and can carry up to 13,000 passengers per hour.

Airport parking

Long- and short-term car parking is provided at the airport with seven public parking areas. P1 is an outdoor car park located in front of the terminal building; P2 is an indoor car park with direct access to terminals T2 and T3. A Parking 'Express' facility, available for short periods only, is located at Terminal 2 and dedicated long-term parking is also available with 1,655 spaces; a free shuttle operates between the long-stay car park and all terminals. There are also VIP car parks.

Incidents and accidents

  • On 4 January 1951, a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar of Ejército del Aire crashed when an engine failed after takeoff. It was on a delivery flight to the Spanish Air Force. Both occupants were killed.
  • On 30 September 1972, a Douglas C-47B EC-AQE of Spantax crashed on takeoff. The aircraft was being used for training duties and the student pilot over-rotated and stalled. One of the six people on board was killed.
  • On May 9, 1976, a Boeing 747 of the Imperial Iranian Air Force was struck by lightning while on approach. This caused the left wing's fuel tank to explode and the wing itself to separate, resulting in the aircraft to crash and killing all 17 passengers and crew.
  • On 27 November 1983, Avianca Flight 011 crashed while attempting to land. Flight 011 struck a series of hills, causing the plane's right wing to break off. The 747 then cartwheeled, shattering into five pieces before coming to rest upside-down. Only 11 of the 169 passengers survived – there were no survivors among the 23 crew.
  • On 7 December 1983, an Iberia 727 operating as Iberia Flight 350 collided during takeoff with Aviaco Flight 134, a DC-9 The Aviaco DC-9 had accidentally entered the runway as the Iberia flight was taking off. Ninety-three people were killed, including 51 from the Iberia 727 and 42 from the Aviaco DC-9.
  • On 15 July 2006, the winglet of a Thai Airways International Boeing 747–400 HS-TGY operating flight TG943 from Madrid Barajas Airport in Spain to Rome Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport cut off the tail of an Air France ERJ-145 while taxiing to the runway for take-off. No injuries were reported.
  • On 20 August 2008, Spanair Flight 5022 which was travelling to Gran Canaria, veered off to the right and into the ground while climbing immediately after lifting off from runway 36L at 14:45 local time. The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 with registration "EC-HFP", was carrying 172 people, including 162 passengers. In the accident, 154 people were killed, two were seriously injured and 12 were slightly injured. Prime Minister Zapatero ordered three days of national mourning.

This page was last updated at 2023-11-05 12:22 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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