Editing Madrid–Barajas Airport (section)

==History==
{{Recentism|section|date=May 2023}}

===Early years===

The airport was constructed in 1927, opening to domestic 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.<ref name=history>{{cite web| title=History| url=http://www.aena.es/en/madrid-barajas-airport/history.html| publisher=Aena| access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> 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]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/pr49/pr49-3.jpg|title= International Timetable 1949|publisher=Airline Timetable Images|accessdate=23 November 2021}}</ref> 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&nbsp;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&nbsp;million passengers and began the construction of the international terminal (current T1). In 1974, [[Iberia (airline)|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.<ref name=history/>

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 Agreement|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 (architect)|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 (architect)|Luis Vidal]], (winning team of the 2006 [[Stirling Prize]]) and [[Carillion|TPS Engineers]], (winning team of the 2006 [[IStructE Awards|IStructE Award]] for Commercial Structures)<ref>[http://www.carillionplc.com/news/news_story.asp?id=429 TPS expertise recognised at Madrid Terminal 4] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216211147/http://www.carillionplc.com/news/news_story.asp?id=429 |date=16 February 2012 }}</ref> was built by [[Ferrovial]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ferrovial.com/en/company/history/|title=History |publisher=Ferrovial.com |access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> and inaugurated on 5 February 2006. Terminal 4 is one of the world's largest [[airport terminal]]s 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 m<sup>2</sup>) and a satellite building, T4S (290,000 m<sup>2</sup>), which are approximately 2&nbsp;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&nbsp;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&nbsp;km) and two on a northwest–southeast axis (and separated by 1.9&nbsp;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 (airline)|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<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.eurocontrol.int/press-releases/west-east-traffic-shift-continues-summer-2012| title=10 busiest airport pairs per number of daily flights| publisher=[[Eurocontrol]]| date=15 November 2012| access-date=14 February 2013| archive-date=2 April 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402104456/https://www.eurocontrol.int/press-releases/west-east-traffic-shift-continues-summer-2012| url-status=dead}}</ref> with 55 daily flights in 2012.<ref>{{cite press release| url=http://www.oag.com/oag/website/com/OAG+Data/News/Press+Room/Press+Releases+2007/OAG+reveals+latest+industry+intelligence+on+the+busiest+routes+2109072 |title=OAG reveals latest industry intelligence on the busiest routes| publisher=[[OAG (Air Travel Intelligence)|OAG]]| date=21 September 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026110411/http://www.oag.com/oag/website/com/OAG%2BData/News/Press%2BRoom/Press%2BReleases%2B2007/OAG%2Breveals%2Blatest%2Bindustry%2Bintelligence%2Bon%2Bthe%2Bbusiest%2Broutes%2B2109072| archive-date=26 October 2007 }}</ref> The schedule has been reduced since the February 2008 opening of the [[Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line]] which covers the distance in {{frac|2|1|2}} hours. Subsequently, the route has been [[List of busiest passenger air routes|overtaken]] by London-Dublin and Paris-Toulouse.

On the morning of 30 December 2006, [[2006 Madrid–Barajas Airport bombing|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&nbsp;kg of explosive would explode at 9:00 local time (8:00 GMT).<ref name="reuters main">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/world/europe/01spain.html |title=Two Believed Dead in Madrid Airport Bombing |agency=[[Reuters]] |date=1 January 2007 |work=The New York Times |access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> After receiving the warning, police were able to evacuate part of the airport.<ref name="CNN">{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/30/madrid.blast/index.html?section=cnn_latest| title=Madrid bomb shatters ETA cease-fire| agency=Reuters| date=31 December 2006| access-date=31 December 2006 }}</ref> Later, an anonymous caller stated that [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]] claims responsibility for the bombing.<ref name="ETAClaim">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6245013.stm| title=Eta claims Madrid airport attack| publisher=[[BBC News]]| date=9 January 2007 |access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> 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&nbsp;million passengers. Barajas was voted "Best Airport" in the 2008 ''[[Condé Nast]] Traveller Reader Awards''.<ref>{{cite journal| url=http://www.cntraveller.com/magazine/readers-travel-awards-2009/page/airports| title=Readers' Travel Awards 2009| journal=[[Condé Nast Traveller]]| access-date=30 June 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815044827/http://www.cntraveller.com/magazine/readers-travel-awards-2009/page/airports| archive-date=15 August 2017| url-status=dead}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://elpais.com/diario/2010/12/02/espana/1291244416_850215.html| title=El Gobierno cambia de modelo y privatiza la gestión de aeropuertos|trans-title=Government changes its plan and privatizes airport management| work=[[El País]]| date=2 December 2010| last=Otero| first=Lara| access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref>

On 27 January 2012, [[Spanair]] suspended all flights affecting Madrid–Barajas as well as other domestic and international connections.<ref>{{cite news| title=Spain Threatens Fine After Airline's Quick Close| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/business/global/spanair-shutdown-strands-thousands.html| last1=Minder| first1=Raphael| last2=Clark| first2=Nicola| date=30 January 2012| work=[[The New York Times]]| access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> 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 International Airport|Dubai]] by [[Emirates (airline)|Emirates]].

Following the death of former Spanish Prime Minister, [[Adolfo Suárez]], in 2014, the Spanish [[Ministry of Public Works and Transport (Spain)|Ministry of Public Works and Transport]] announced<ref name="auto1"/> 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 [[Spanish transition to democracy|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 [[ENAIRE|Aena]] announced plans to significantly expand and renovate the existing installations, increasing their yearly capacity from 70 to 80&nbsp;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&nbsp;million Euro and is set to be executed in the period from 2022 to 2026.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/economia/2019/12/26/actualidad/1577385235_928647.html|title=Aena prevé invertir 750 millones para unir las terminales 1, 2 y 3 de Barajas|last=Noceda|first=Miguel Ángel|date=2019-12-27|work=El País|access-date=2019-12-27|language=es|issn=1134-6582}}</ref>