Published On: Tue, Jan 30th, 2024

Spanish airport set to be ‘biggest in Europe’ as it’s set for staggering £2bn makeover | World | News


Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez has announced a plan to expand Madrid’s international airport with a whopping £2bn (€2.4bn) makeover.

The project aims to increase the Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas International Airport to a capacity of 90 million passengers by 2031.

Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas Airport is Spain’s busiest in terms of air traffic. It handled more than 20 million passengers last year, outpacing El Prat (Barcelona) with over 16 million and Palma de Mallorca with more than 11 million.

President Sánchez announced at the International Tourism Fair this week: “We are going to make it one of the largest airports in the EU.”

The Madrid National Airport was inaugurated on April 22, 1931, and began commercial operations at the end of 1933. In the 1950s, approximately half a million passengers travelled through annually.

The current T2 terminal’s construction began in 1954, and the airport was renamed Madrid-Barajas Airport in 1965.

The year 1971 saw the start of construction on a new terminal, now known as T-1. In 2006, a new terminal area was opened, incorporating the current T4.

This significant development covers over 750,000 m² and accommodates 35 million passengers annually with two runways supporting 120 flights per hour. On March 24, 2014, the airport was renamed Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas.

Opposition MPs from the left-wing party Sumar have slammed the expansion plan, with the party’s deputy Íñigo Errejón branding the project “economic and ecological nonsense”.

Elizabeth Duval, a member of the Sumar’s temporary executive committee, also expressed her opposition to this measure, arguing that “it makes no sense to continue with ‘Spain is Different’ and mass tourism as a vocation”.

She said: “The times call for something else. What Spain needs is not airport extensions, but industrialisation, ecological transition and a profound transformation of the economic model.”



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