Madrid Barajas International Airport: First Arrival
Ripples of excitement ran down my spine as my flight touched the airstrip of the Madrid International Airport. This was my first international vacation, and I was thrilled by the thought of getting to explore 14 countries over the course of the next 30 days. Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas International Airport, the second-largest in Europe, marked the beginning of my grand vacation, and I couldn’t be happier that it was the first airport I had to encounter in Europe. Generally referred, to as Madrid–Barajas Airport, this is one of the primary international airports serving Spain.
Goes without saying that owing to its status as the 2nd-largest European Airport, this magnificent air station sprawls across a wide area of 7,500 acres. On the face of it, Madrid Spain International Airport welcomes you to a vibrantly lit space backed by Y-shaped silver columns and a golden yellow ceiling. The transitional welcome to the Kingdom of Spain becomes evident as soon as, you begin to see English signboards followed by Spanish captions. As I walked past the long hallway, a trail of coiled canopy light overpassed me until I arrived at the baggage claim area marked by an artistic glass ceiling.
In between all the walking, whenever I looked up, I heeded, the Spanish sky peeping at me through the transparent glass panels. A little further inside is where you will find the Starbucks dented barriers pointing to its open-air cafe and Spain’s oldest luxury fashion house, Loewe, specialising in luxury fashion accessories since 1846. In between these two outlets is the way that leads to the main arrival departure gate.
Expect many at this 19th-century airport as in 2019 alone the annual passenger traffic was recorded at 61.8 million passengers making Madrid-Bajaras Europe’s 6th-busiest airport. Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport since June 2011, is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Madrid–Barajas, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.
The airport received its name from the first Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez. Whereas Barajas is inferred from a district whose metro station and railway line serves the airport. Madrid International Airport has five passenger terminals that scale from T1, T2, T3, T4 to T4S as this airport caters to a vast number of domestic and international flights. Out of these five terminals, one is an executive terminal, while the others support business aviation.
The terminal lobbies boast a superior, high-quality shopping experience that every passenger is entitled to, and these services vary from fine restaurants to fashion hubs such as MAD. As Barajas sets out to connect Europe with Latin America, it is now the official gateway to the Iberian cape – making it the primary hub for Iberia and Air Europa that account for more than 40% of its traffic. Inside the city boundaries, this airport is located six miles from the city’s financial district and 8 miles from Madrid’s historic centre.
