Barajas Airport: the Madrid hub's broad horizons

This great leap forward can be explained by the opening of terminal 4 in 2006. Its extravagant, high-performance design, by Richard Rogers and Antonio Lamela, has seen traffic rise in just a few years from around thirty million passengers to over 50 million, with a potential of 70 or even 80 million. As a result, the airport has become one of the region's economic engines, accounting for more than 11 % of Greater Madrid's GDP. The hub directly employs 54,000 people and generates a total of more than 170,000 jobs, almost 10 % of all the jobs in the Madrid community. According to forecasts, these figures could even double in the next ten years. Today, the Spanish capital is connected to more than 170 destinations by direct flights, and in 2007, one year after the opening of T4, 52 million travellers passed through Barajas - almost twice as many as ten years earlier. Incidentally, Air France is the 9 largest airline in Spain.^e the largest airline in terms of passengers, and France ranks 3rd in the world.^e after Spain and Italy in terms of the number of travellers per country.

 

"It is certainly the opening of T4 that has propelled Madrid to the status of a major capital, as we are now one of the four largest airports in Europe".explains José Sanz Dodero, deputy director of Madrid-Barajas airport. The airport has undeniably become a major hub, particularly for Latin America and Africa. This also explains why the majority of users are business travellers, with almost 30 % of passengers landing at Madrid transferring to other destinations. "The performance of this terminal is due to its highly sophisticated equipment".continues José Sanz Dodero. T4 alone has two of the airport's four runways and can handle up to 35 million passengers a year, with its 164 check-in counters and 50 automatic check-in machines. Transfers can be made in record time thanks to a baggage conveyor system covering 120 km at 42 km/h.

 

 

But T4 is also a real shopping centre with 30,000 m² shops and restaurants, and even a spa with a small swimming pool. It's so easy to get to the airport from Madrid's historic centre that you could almost come here just to shop. An efficient and, above all, inexpensive metro service (€2.50 per journey) provides express access. What's more, since September 2011, a train has linked the airport to Atocha station in 25 minutes and Chamartin station in just 11 minutes.

 

With its organic, moving, living forms, terminal 4 has a modernity that four years of existence have not yet managed to dent. This building, over a kilometre long and covering 500,000 m² Comprising two buildings linked by a high-speed train system, T4 was designed primarily for the Spanish airline Iberia, although a number of other airlines, including low-cost carriers, also operate flights there. "This dedicated terminal has given a new image to our company, while offering a 30 % growth margin in terms of traffic".explains Manuel López Aguilar, Iberia's Deputy Commercial and Customer Manager. The Spanish airline also boasts the finest lounges in the new terminal - three in all - as well as a VIP check-in and security area, inaugurated last year.

 

"It's true that T4 is designed to maximise passenger well-being".says José Sanz Dodero, adding that "The airport also boasts a Michelin-starred restaurant. The roof, which is almost plant-like in its curves, all waves and in some ways reminiscent of a DNA molecule, is made entirely of aluminium and bamboo slats. "Bamboo is environmentally friendly. It only takes six months to grow, so it's not as if trees were felled for this building.explained an airport spokeswoman. It's a peaceful place. It reassures the anxious thanks to the 550 skylights that give the place calm and serenity, even in the arrivals area. This subtle luminosity is complemented by glass walls that bathe the building in the Madrid sunshine.

 

This terminal is, in fact, quite a symbol. Facing north to south, its colours vary from blue to green, then yellow to orange, before finally turning red. From cold to hot. But symbols often have a pragmatic reason for being: here, the signage matches the polychrome variations, and the letters corresponding to the boarding areas are also blue, green, yellow, orange or red. The same goes for the shops and restaurants, which also follow this progression, helping passengers to find their bearings in space and time. The result is a beautiful effect with an obvious arty touch.

In fact, the whole airport is an art gallery in XXL format. Temporary and permanent exhibitions welcome artists from all horizons, with the indisputable masterpiece, The Rape of Europa by Botero. A way of affirming that the boundaries between business, air and art are, in fact, very thin...