Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport is set for a major expanision which could make it the busiest in Europe by 2031.
The airport, which is already Spain’s primary aviation hub and the third busiest airport after London´s Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle handled over 60 million passengers in 2023.
Barajas will now be further developed, with a EUR2.4 billion investment into two projects covering all the terminals, although no new ones will be built.
Unlike London and Paris, Madrid only has one airport and there are no current plans for a new one and Barajas has ample room for additional development and capacity.
Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, made the announcement at FITUR last Friday of the ambitous expansion plan to increase capacity to accommodate up to 90 million passengers by 2031.
The 2.4 billion Euro plan, whose importance “transcends borders,” will be “the largest in a decade in airport infrastructure in Spain.” The investment will allow a 28 percent increase in capacity and help create thousands of new jobs and further increase Madrid’s GDP, almost 10 percent of which is currently contributed by the airport, “a hallmark of Spain,” he said.
The investment will also strengthen Madrid’s role as Europe’s gateway to Latin America and develop its connections to Asia with new routes, he said.
In total, around 1.7 billion Euros will be spent on the T4 and T4S terminals, while 700 million Euros will go to the older terminals of 1, 2 and 3.
The Spanish airport operator, AENA, say the investment is a big step to consolidate Madrid´s status as a leading international hub for commercial passengers as well as logistics.
In 2022 they unveiled the Madrid Airport City Mega Hub project which would ” promote economic competitiveness through the development of activities with high added value and innovation in the Community of Madrid and will diversify the airport’s role as an economic and public service engine.
The project centres around a state-of-the-art logistics hub for air cargo as well as commerical passenger hub.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE MADRID NEWS