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Madrid–Barajas Airport

Coordinates: 40°29′36″N 003°34′00″W / 40.49333°N 3.56667°W / 40.49333; -3.56667
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Madrid-Barajas Airport

Aeropuerto de Madrid-Barajas
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorAena
ServesMadrid, Spain
LocationBarajas
Elevation AMSL2,000 ft / 610 m
Coordinates40°29′36″N 003°34′00″W / 40.49333°N 3.56667°W / 40.49333; -3.56667
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
15R/33L 4,100 13,451 Asphalt
18L/36R 3,500 11,483 Asphalt
15L/33R 3,500 11,483 Asphalt
18R/36L 4,350 14,272 Asphalt
Statistics (2008)
Passengers50,846,104
Aircraft movements469,740
Source: airport data[1][2], statistics[3]

Madrid-Barajas International Airport (IATA: MAD[4], ICAO: LEMD) is the main international airport serving Madrid, Spain. It is the country's largest and busiest airport, the world's tenth busiest airport [5] and Europe's fourth. It opened in 1928, and has grown to be one of the most important aviation centres of Europe. The airport derives its name from the adjacent town of Barajas, which has its own metro station on the same rail line serving the airport.

The Madrid-Barcelona air shuttle service, known as the "Puente Aéreo" (in Spanish) or "Pont Aeri" (in Catalan), literally "Air Bridge", is the world's busiest route, with the highest number of flight operations (971 per week) in 2007.[6] The schedule has been reduced since February 2008, when a Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line was opened, covering the distance in 2½ hours, and quickly became popular. Barajas serves as the gateway to the Iberian peninsula from the rest of Europe and the world, and is a particularly key link between Europe and Latin America. The airport is the primary hub and maintenance base for Iberia Airlines. Consequently, Iberia Airlines is responsible for more than 60 percent of Barajas' traffic.[7]

Terminal 4 houses all Iberia flights and all Oneworld alliance member airlines including British Airways, American Airlines, LAN Airlines, among others. Terminals T1, T2 and T3 operate Air Europa and Spanair, as well as all member airlines of Skyteam and Star Alliance, including AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, Korean Air, Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines, Air China, Thai Airways, US Airways, and Lufthansa, among others.

In 2008, more than 50.8 million passengers[3] used Barajas.

History

The airport was first constructed in 1927, opening to national and international air traffic on April 22, 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 Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas (LAPE) with its line to Barcelona. Later, in the 1930s international flights started.

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 1400 metres long and 45 metres wide. By the end of the decade the airport had three runways, none of which exists today.

In the 1950s the airport supported over half a million passengers, increasing to 5 runways and scheduled flights to New York City began. The National Terminal, currently T2, began construction in 1954, and was inaugurated later that year. In the Plan of Airports of 1957, Barajas Airport is classified as a first-class international airport. By the 1960s 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 World Cup 1982 brought significant reforms to the airport, with the expansion and reform of the 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, 71m 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 are now called T2 and the north dock is called T3.

Night view of Madrid-Barajas Airport

In November 1998, the new runway 18R-36L started operations (replacing the previous 18-36), 4,400m 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 architect Antonio Lamela and Richard Rogers, and two parallel runways to the existing ones.

The new terminals and runways were completed in 2004, but administrative delays and equipment, as well as the controversy over the redeployment of terminals, delayed service until February 5, 2006.

With this new extension, Barajas airport becomes the world's largest area of its terminals.

In 2007, the airport crossed the barrier of the 50 million passengers, the exact figure being 52,143,275 passengers.

Notable accidents and incidents

  • On November 27, 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.[8]
  • On December 7, 1983, Iberia Airlines 727 Flight 350 [1] collided during takeoff with Aviaco DC9 Flight 134. [2] The Aviaco DC9 had accidentally entered the runway as the Iberia flight was taking off. [3] 135 people were killed, including 93 from the Iberia and 42 from the Aviaco.
  • On the morning of December 30, 2006, an explosion took place in the carpark building module D attached to Terminal 4 of Madrid Barajas International Airport in Spain. A bomb threat was phoned in at approximately 8:15 local time (7:15 GMT), with the caller stating that a bomb would explode at 9:00 local time (8:00 GMT).[9] After receipt of the warning, police were able to evacuate part of the airport.[10] Later, an anonymous caller stated that ETA claims responsibility for the bombing.[11] As a result of the explosion, two Ecuadorians who were sleeping in their cars died. The whole module D of the carpark was levelled to the ground, around 40,000 tonnes of debris. It took six days to recover the body of the second victim from the rubble.
  • On August 20, 2008, Spanair Flight JKK 5022 which was traveling to Las Palmas de 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 (now Boeing) MD-82 with registration "EC-HFP", was carrying 172 people, including 162 passengers[12]. At least 154 people have been killed. 2 were seriously injured and 12 were slightly injured. Prime Minister Zapatero ordered 3 days of national mourning.[13]

Barajas today

The Metro Line 8 runs to Terminal 2 (access to T1 and T3) and to Terminal 4. The Nuevos Ministerios metro station allowed checking-in[14] right by the AZCA business area in central Madrid, but this convenience has been suspended indefinitely after the building of Terminal 4[15]. In October 2006 a bid was launched for the construction of a Cercanías link between Chamartín Station and Terminal 4. When finished in 2009, a single Cercanías Line will link Madrid Barajas Terminal 4, with Chamartín and Atocha AVE high-speed train stations[16].

Terminal 4, designed by Antonio Lamela and Richard Rogers (winning team of the 2006 Stirling Prize), and TPS Engineers, (winning team of the 2006 IStructE Award for Commercial Structures)[17] was built by Ferrovial[18] and inaugurated on February 5, 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. Consisting of a main building, T4 (470,000 m²), and satellite building, T4S (290,000 m²), which are separated by approximately 2.5 km. Hong Kong International Airport still holds the title for the world's largest single terminal building (Terminal 1) at 570,000 square meter. The new Terminal 4 is meant to give passengers a stress-free start to their journey. This is managed through careful use of illumination, available by glass panes instead of walls and numerous domes in the roof which allow natural light to pass through. With the 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 February 5, 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 1.8km) and two on a northwest-southeast axis (and separated by 2.5km). 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, as well as Air Europa. Terminal 4 is home to Iberia Airlines, 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.

Barajas Airport Terminal 4 check in hall, 2008

Airlines and destinations

Terminal 1

Airlines and destinations from Terminal 1
Airlines Destinations
Aer Lingus Dublin, Washington-Dulles [begins March 2010[19]]
Aerolineas Argentinas Buenos Aires-Ezeiza
AeroMéxico Mexico City
Aerosur Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Air Canada Toronto-Pearson [seasonal]
Air China Beijing-Capital, Sao Paulo-Guarulhos [begins 29 March]
Air Comet Bogotá, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Guayaquil, Havana, Lima, London-Gatwick, Mexico City [begins 15 June], Quito, Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Air Europa International non-Schengen: Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cancun, Caracas, Dakar, Havana, Marrakesh, New York-JFK [begins 1 June], Punta Cana, Salvador da Bahia, Santo Domingo, Tel Aviv, Tunis
Air Moldova Chişinău
Air Transat Montréal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver [begins 5 June] [all seasonal]
Blue Air Bucharest-Băneasa, Sibiu
Bulgaria Air Sofia
Continental Airlines Newark
Cubana de Aviación Havana, Santiago de Cuba
Delta Air Lines Atlanta, New York-JFK
easyJet Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bristol, Bucharest-Băneasa, Bucharest-Otopeni, Casablanca, Edinburgh, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Ibiza [begins 5 June], Lanzarote, Lisbon, Liverpool, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, Lyons, Marrakesh, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Ciampino, Sofia, Tangier, Toulouse
Germanwings Stuttgart
Icelandair Reykjavik-Keflavik [seasonal]
Korean Air Amsterdam, Seoul-Incheon
LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw
Lufthansa Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich
Lufthansa Italia Milan-Malpensa
Meridiana Florence
MyAir Bari
Qatar Airways Doha
Ryanair Alghero, Alicante, Brussels South-Charleroi, Cagliari, Dublin, Eindhoven, Girona, Hahn, Liverpool [seasonal], London-Stansted, Marseilles, Bergamo-Orio al Serio, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Beauvais, Porto, Rome-Ciampino, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Valencia
S7 Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo [begins 5 June]
Saudi Arabian Airlines Jeddah, Riyadh
Smart Wings Prague
Spanair Algiers, Banjul
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich
TAM Airlines São Paulo-Guarulhos
TAP Portugal operated by Portugalia Airlines Lisbon, Porto
Thai Airways International Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
Tunisair Tunis, Tozeur [begins Winter 2009]
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk
US Airways Philadelphia
Wizz Air Bucharest-Băneasa, Budapest [begins 29 March], Cluj-Napoca [begins 14 June], Prague [begins 11 July]

Terminal 2

Terminal 2
Airlines and destinations from Terminal 2
Airlines Destinations
Air Berlin Palma de Mallorca
Air Europa Barcelona, Budapest, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Malaga, Milan-Malpensa, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Orly, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, Tenerife-North, Tenerife-South, Venice-Marco Polo, Vigo
Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Air France operated by Brit Air Lyons
Alitalia Milan-Linate, Rome-Fiumicino
Alitalia Express Milan-Linate
KLM Amsterdam
Scandinavian Airlines System Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen [ends 30 April]
Spanair Alicante, Almeria, Barcelona, Bilbao, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Jerez, La Coruña, Lanzarote, Malaga, Minorca, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tenerife-North, Tenerife-South, Valencia, Vigo
TAP Portugal Lisbon, Funchal [seasonal], Porto

Terminal 3

Airlines and destinations from Terminal 3
Airlines Destinations
Pyrenair Huesca (flights operated by Iberia / Air Nostrum. See Terminal 4)

Terminal 4

View of terminal T4-Satellite
T4 - Upper level to check-in, lower levels to Arrivals and metro station)
Airlines and destinations from Terminal 4
Airlines Destinations
Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo
Air Algérie Algiers
Air Senegal International Dakar
American Airlines Dallas/Fort Worth [begins 2 May][20], Miami
Atlas Blue Marrakesh, Tangier
Avianca Bogotá, Cali
British Airways London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow
British Airways operated by BA CityFlyer London-City
Brussels Airlines Brussels
Czech Airlines Prague
EgyptAir Cairo, Luxor
El Al Tel Aviv
Finnair Helsinki
Iberia Airlines and Air Nostrum Algiers, Alicante, Almeria, Amsterdam, Asturias, Athens, Badajoz, Barcelona, Berlin-Tegel, Bilbao, Bogotá, Bologna, Bordeaux, Boston, Brussels, Bucharest-Otopeni, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cagliari [seasonal], Cairo, Caracas, Casablanca, Catania [seasonal], Chicago-O'Hare, Clermont-Ferrand, Copenhagen, Dakar, Dublin, Dubrovnik [begins 2 June], Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Granada, Genoa, Gran Canaria, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Havana, Huesca, Ibiza, Istanbul-Atatürk, Jerez de la Frontera, Johannesburg, Kraków, La Coruña, Lagos, La Rioja, Lanzarote, Leon, Lima, Lisbon, London-Heathrow, Lyons, Malabo, Malaga, Marrakesh, Marseilles, Melilla, Minorca, Mexico City, Miami, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Montevideo, Montpellier, Moscow-Domodedovo, Munich, Murcia, Nantes, Naples, New York-JFK, Nice, Olbia [seasonal], Oporto, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Panama City, Paris-Orly, Prague, Quito, Pisa, Rennes, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, Rome-Fiumicino, Salvador da Bahia, San Jose de Costa Rica, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Santiago de Chile, Santiago de Compostela, San Sebastián, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Santander, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Sevilla, Stockholm-Arlanda, St Petersburg, Strasbourg, Tangier, Tel Aviv, Tenerife-North, Tenerife-South, Toulouse, Turin, Valencia, Venice-Marco Polo, Vienna, Vigo, Vitoria, Warsaw, Washington-Dulles, Zagreb [begins 4 July], Zaragoza, Zürich
Iberworld Aswán, Bamako, Banjul, Bogotá, Cancún, Hassi Messaoud, Luxor, Montego Bay, Nairobi, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Salvador da Bahia, Venice-Marco Polo [all seasonal]
LAN Airlines Frankfurt, Santiago de Chile
LAN Ecuador Guayaquil, Quito
LAN Perú Lima
Luxair Luxembourg
Malév Hungarian Airlines Budapest
Mexicana Mexico City
Olympic Airlines Athens
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca
Royal Jordanian Amman
Syrian Arab Airlines Damascus
TAROM Bucharest-Otopeni, Cluj-Napoca
Ukraine International Airlines Kiev-Boryspil, Lviv
Vueling Airlines Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Ibiza [begins 29 March], Lisbon, Milan-Malpensa, Malta, Naples, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, Tenerife-Norte, Venice-Marco Polo

Cargo airlines

References

  1. ^ Template:WAD
  2. ^ Airport information for MAD at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  3. ^ a b AENA passenger and aircraft movements for 2008
  4. ^ Accident history for MAD at Aviation Safety Network
  5. ^ ACI passenger statistics for 2007
  6. ^ OAG reveals latest industry intelligence on the busiest routes
  7. ^ Madrid also serves as a hub for Air Europa, Air Comet Vueling, Ryanair and Easyjet and is a focus city for Spanair.OAG data
  8. ^ http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19831127-0
  9. ^ "Explosion hits parking lot at Madrid airport". Reuters. 2006-12-30. Retrieved 2006-12-31.
  10. ^ "Madrid bomb shatters ETA cease-fire". Reuters. 2006-12-31. Retrieved 2006-12-31.
  11. ^ Webb, Jason (2006-12-30). "Four hurt in Madrid airport bomb, ETA claims attack". Reuters. Retrieved 2006-12-31. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ http://www.spanair.com/web/en-gb/DSite/Last-official-notice/
  13. ^ http://elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/08/20/espana/1219237335.html
  14. ^ Inaugurado el intercambiador de Nuevos Ministerios en Madrid con servicio directo de metro al aeropuerto, Vía Libre, N° 454, June 2002
  15. ^ Las aerolíneas descartan retomar la facturación en Nuevos Ministerios, ABC, 24 July 2007 (copy hosted by SEPLA).
  16. ^ Fomento
  17. ^ TPS expertise recognised at Madrid Terminal 4
  18. ^ Ferrovial history
  19. ^ Aer Lingus to start joint-venture with United Airlines on flights from Washington-Dulles to Madrid
  20. ^ American Airlines To Launch Daily Flights To Madrid From Dallas-Fort Worth In May

External links