Madrid Spain Airport

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MADRID AIRPORT
History
Madrid-Barajas Airport also known as Barajas is the main air link of Spain to Latin America and the rest of Europe. It is sometimes called Barajas because it was built in the upcoming town of Barajas. The airport is ranked 15th in the world by passenger traffic in 2015 and 5th busiest in Europe according to Eurostat data for 2014. It was opened to the public in 1928 and is the first airport in Spain. The airport boasts four terminals; one executive terminal, two hanger areas, and one cargo area. It has five runways; four parallel and the first one to be built in the airport which is now used as a parking lot. In 2012 the airport upgraded its runways to suit to the change of the magnetic north in relation to the geographic north.
Though opened in 1928; the airport began operation in 1933. On May 15 the first commercial civilian traffic was launched by the landing of Fokker VII/3M plane. The routes that were scheduled first were Barcelona and Seville which were operated by LAPE which is now Iberia. This was done under Lieutenant Colonel Jacobo de Armijo as the director, and 2873 passengers were transported this year by 378 planes. By the mid-50s the capacity of the airport increased to around half a million a year. It was now necessary to do the expansion to adapt to the changes. In 1954 the airport built a new passenger terminal, now Terminal 2, a cargo aircraft aprons and cargo terminals were also completed in the same year.

When jumbo jets started to arrive in the 1970s the flow of passengers increased to more than one million a year. Work began in 1971 to build a new passenger terminal now Terminal T-1 for international flights. In 1974 the Iberia airline launched the arrive and fly concept for Madrid-Barcelona air Shuttle at the International terminal known as Terminal Norte. In 1980 preparation to host the 1982 Football World Cup in Spain started by upgrading the National Terminal at Barajas airport to accommodate more passengers.
In 2000 a plan called the Barajas-project was launched with an aim increasing the airport’s capacity to 70 million passengers a year. The expansion of the airport began and two new runways and a control tower were constructed. In 2004 the project was completed, and the new terminal T4 and its satellite T4S were opened for operation. Figure 1 shows the exterior design of the terminal 4.

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 1: Terminal 4
The terminal 4 design was superb and has seen the airport receive many awards. It was awarded the 2005 RIBA Airport Award and the RIBA European Award in2006. In 2008 alone the airport had five awards courtesy of the terminal 4 which is also the biggest in Spain. The awards of 2008 include; AIA/UK Excellence in Design Award, the  Instructed Award for Commercial or Retail Structures, RIBA Stirling Prize, Airport Council Award for Best European Airport, XX Urbanism Architecture, and Public Works Awards, Madrid City Council(www.aena.es). The Spanish Engineering Institute awarded terminal T4 the Best Engineering Project in 2005 and took the 3rd place in the Best International Terminal. Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport was also awarded the Best Global Airport in 2011 by the British Institute of Transport Management. The airport also received the Pilot Friendly award from Spanish Union of Airline Pilots. The National Geographic Traveller magazine named Barajas as the airport with the best architectural design in the world. In 2012 the airport received the Gold Fast Travel Award for its improved efficiency, reduced passenger check-ins and boarding cost In 2014 the airport changed its name from Madrid-Barajas to Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas as a tribute to the former president of Spain.
Ownership
The airport is owned by the Spanish state airports and air navigation operator AENA. After many attempts to privatize the corporate, they finally managed to do it in February 2015. The privatization split the organization and the navigation section is referred to as ENAIRE, and it owns 100% of the AENA Spanish Airports. ENAIRE ownership before privatization is shown in Figure 1.

Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 2: ENAIRE Ownership Structure
According to the 2014/15 transaction, the privatization handed the Spanish government 51% of AENA, 21% went to the key investors who are Ferrovial Aeropuertos (6.5%); Corporacion Financiera Alba (8% ) and the UK-based Children’s Investment Fund (6.5%). The remaining 28% went to the IPO.
Management
The airport is managed by a board of directors whose responsibilities are governed by the Company’s Articles of Association. The shareholders also have their regulation that helps set the rules of the Board of Directors. The function of the board is to control the day to day activities of the airport such as making the annual budget, management objectives, financing, investment policy and personnel management among others. The Aena’s board of directors has 15 directors; 7 appointed by the government, seven independent and one executive director who doubles up as the chairman and CEO. The management is efficient to ensure fast and smooth operation of all the activities in the airport.
Economic Impact
Barajas airport has a significant impact on the economy of the city of Madrid and Spain as a whole. Its Strategic location makes it ideal for tourist and has boosted tourism in the country. There were 8.2% more foreign tourists visiting the country in the first six months of 2015; Madrid registered the highest growth during this period. The airport also offers jobs to the people of Spain both directly and indirectly. In 2012 the airport had an annual traffic 45 million and freight of 370,000tonnes. In 2015 the airport recorded 21.7 million passengers for the first six months, this is 11% more than for the period in 2014. These statistics puts Madrid airport market share at 23% of the market in passenger load and 55% in freight. This mean Barajas caters for a quarter of the market for air transport in Spain and a half for air cargo.(Seijas and Jose, 2014). The continuous success of the airport is attributed to the growth numbers of connecting flights going through Madrid. The airport is among ones with the greatest potential for growth according to the Association of Air Lines. It has also contributed to the Gross Domestic Product of the country. It provides 3% of the contributes GDP as indicated by its job creation and output production. The airport and the companies operating in it pay taxes and wages to the government. Other businesses have also come up due to the existence of the airport; such businesses include car hire services, hotel industry, designer boutiques, petrol stations among others. These firms also contribute to the economic stability of the country (www.onthepulse.es).
Passenger Airlines
The airport has up to 71 Airlines operating in it, some of the major ones include; Wamos, Wiz Air Hungary, Blue Air, Beijing Capital Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Bulgaria Air, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, Cubana Airlines, Ceiba Intercontinental, Delta Airlines, Easy Jet, Egypt Air, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Icelandair, Israel Air, Korean Air, Latam Airlines, Luxair, Lufthansa, Meridiana Fly, Monarch Airlines, Norwegian, Niki, Privilege Style, Pegasus Airlines, Qatar Airways, Ryanair, Royal Jordanian, Royal Air Maroc, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Swiss International Airline, Sata International, Tarom, Transavia, Tunisair, Turkish Airline, Ukraine International Airlines, United Airlines, Vueling, Air Algeria, Aeroflot, Air China, Air France, Alitalia, American Airlines, Air Europa, Air Canada, Air Nostrum, Air Moldova among others. The airport handles many passengers because of the many airlines. To increase speed and efficiency of movement of passengers the airport has developed a state of the art transport system. The passengers are carried by underground trains between the terminals. There are also shuttle buses which pick up and drop passengers in the various terminal. The airport also has Car hire services which enhance the transportation of passengers.
Cargo Airlines
The Barajas-Madrid freight section is the largest hub of air cargo facilities in Spain; it has over 200 established companies. The location of the Barajas freight facility enables easy access to the logistics centers. The location is technical, geographically and physically strategic and therefore, it allows the operators and courier companies establish their facilities near the apron. The facility also has room for clearing and forwarding agents and customs agents among others. The freight facility has a general services building which banking services, business center, catering services hotels and ample parking space. The Cargo Airline which operates at Barajas-Madrid Airport includes; ASL Airlines Belgium, Atlantic Airlines, Cygnus Air, DHL Aviation, Emirates Sky Cargo, MASkargo, Qatar Airways Cargo, Swiftair, Turkish Airlines Cargo, and UPS Airlines.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges Barajas-Madrid Airport is facing is congestion. The demand of passengers is more than what the capacity of the airport can offer. Causes of this congestion include; increase in some airlines which lead to an increase of the travelers, slots assigned to other airlines during winter and summer; slots is the authority to use the runways and terminals of other airports experiencing delays or other problems such as weather. The slot system requires that airlines use 80% of their slots to retain the following season, airlines that fall below 80% lose their slots for re-distribution. This current system is not sufficient thus leading to congestion. Barajas-Madrid Airport is among the airports that have been experiencing congestion and should be expanded from 98 to 120 movements by the year 2020 according to analysis done by European Commission.(www.europa.eu)
Another challenge is ground handling which involves maintenance of the runways, fuel, servicing, passenger check-in, cargo handling, baggage handling, catering and ground transport. Due to the increase of planes, the ground handling has been slow leading to about 70% of flight delays at the airport. Noise is also a major problem in the airport, the big planes such the Airbus produce a lot of noise during landing and takeoff, such noise cause disturbance to community living around the airport. The regulations governing noise restriction have not been implemented well. Some of these regulations include; manufacturing quieter airplanes and operation restrictions such as banning flights during the night. The airport has installed a noise control system that detects and measures the sound of aircraft when flying over the microphone.
Environmental Impact
The airport has an environmental management system which is responsible for meeting the objectives of reducing the effects to the environment. Some of the goals aimed at reducing environmental degradation by the company include reducing noise, proper waste treatment, improving the quality of water, preserving the energy resources, reducing gas emissions and increasing the recycling rate. The company organizes awareness campaigns to enlighten the employees and the community on the matter of environment preservation. Such campaigns ensure that the staff is also involved in the conservation. Environmental control and tracking systems have also been installed in various sections of the airport to monitor the impact of the airport to the surrounding. Required measures are taken to reduce the consequences in case it exceeds the threshold. The airport has an air quality control network that continuously examines the level of pollutants in the atmosphere. The network has a station that does real-time measurements on the levels of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide and methane. They also measure the direction and velocity of the wind.(www.aena.es)
Madrid-Barajas uses a lot of energy in the daily activities to ensure smooth operation. The airport consumes 100000 liters of diesel per year for automobile and 300 gigawatts /hour of electricity per year. To optimize the use of energy, the airport has installed machines that stabilize the voltage to the lighting system to ensure even distribution of light and reduce the cost of repair of the lighting system. Photocells have also been installed to control the lighting when there is enough natural light. Motion detectors have been fixed in all escalators and bridges; they only work when they detect the presence of someone.
The airport has different channels for treating waste water and natural water. This move ensures that contaminated water is not discharged into the public water system. The water is sampled after fixed interval of time in the laboratory to ensure it is free from contaminants before it is released to the environment. About 10000 tons of waste is generated at the airport yearly from its daily activities. To control this waste, the airport has three collection points each having separate containers for different types of waste. The hazardous waste from equipment and maintenance activities is collected separately by a different waste treatment company. The non-hazardous wastes such as paper, cardboard, glass, tires, wood, and metal are also collected separately for recycling.
Bird colonies in the airport close to the runways pose a safety hazard to the aircraft. The suction of the birds accidentally into the jet engines can cause a serious accident during take-off or landing. To deal with this issue, the airport has established a wildlife monitoring unit which patrols the runways daily to keep them free from birds. The airport has a plant ecosystem that includes stone pine, Aleppo pine, and Arizona cypress. The trees not only improve the quality of air but they also prevent erosion, act as acoustic barrier and habitat for rabbits, foxes, weasels, and Wildcats.
The Adolfo Madrid-Barajas Airport has made its existence beneficial to the community by offering employment, supporting charity events, and taking care of the environment. Despite being beneficial, the existence of the airport caused continuous noise pollution.
Works Cited
www.aena.es/en/madrid-barajas-airport/history.html.
“European Commission – PRESS RELEASES – Press Release – Europe’s Airports 2030: Challenges Ahead.” European Commission – PRESS RELEASES – Press Release – Europe’s Airports 2030: Challenges Ahead, www.europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-11-857_en.htm?locale=en.
“Barajas Registers Biggest Growth of All European Airports.” Barajas Registers Biggest Growth of All European Airports | Spanish News in English – On The Pulse of Spain, 12 Aug. 2015, www.onthepulse.es/spanish-economy-news/barajas-registers-biggest-growth-all-european-airports-150812.
Seijas Daniel Costa, and Jose Manuel Cubela. “ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BARAJAS AIRPORT.” 13 Feb. 2014, www.airportregions.org/wp-content/uploads/04-Jos%C3%A9-Manuel-Cubela-Economic-Impact-of-Barajas-Airport.pdf.