Bilbao Airport

Bilbao Airport (Template:Comma separated entries) is a minor international airport located north of Bilbao, in the municipality of Loiu, in Biscay. It is the largest airport in the Basque Country and northern Spain, with 6,336,441 passengers in 2023. It is famous for its new main terminal opened in 2000 designed by Santiago Calatrava.

History

Foundation and early years

After various aeronautic experiments in the province of Biscay, in October 1927 steps were taken by the Union of Public Works to establish an airport in Bilbao. A Provincial Board was created to study the possible location of the airport. It was not until 1936 that the General Aeronautics Management authorised the installation of an airport in Sondika. However, due to the site's many deficiencies, the airport was not considered of interest. Bilbao is surrounded by mountains and a flat valley without significant population had to be found.

The construction works commenced during the Civil War but during this time and until June 1937 the airport was only used as a base for military activities. In 1938, the second stage of the airport's development began. The council resumed procedures with the government to modify the primitive project of 1936 and the drafting of a new project was authorised and later approved by the General Management of Infrastructure.

In 1940, it was decided by common agreement with the local organisations affected to build a civilian airport in Sondika. The construction works progressed slowly and on 19 September 1948, the airport was at last opened to daytime traffic with the establishment of an air path to Madrid by Aviación y Comercio, SA. Two years later, the terminal, named Carlos Haya after the well-known pilot from Bilbao, began to give service. At this time, the airport had an asphalt runway, the 11/29 (measuring ), another earth runway (measuring ), a taxiway, a passenger terminal, a tower control, a radio beacon, a direction finder as well as police, post office, weather, health, fuel and telephone services. In 1955, a taxiway was built to link the runway with the parking stands and terminal. An apron measuring , a hangar for the Royal Flying Club of Vizcaya and permanent facilities for Campsa were also built.

Between 1964 and 1965, an instrumental ILS landing system and a meteorological radio for storm detection were installed; the runway was extended to and the apron to . In 1975, the runway was surfaced and its orientation became 10/28 due to the change in magnetic declination. In 1977, the parking stand was extended, a link road was built and an ILS system was installed. The runway 12/30, measuring long, was opened the same year and the airport was classified as first category the following year. As a result of the population density of the area, approaching planes may have to fly over the extensive Derio cemetery.

During the 1980s, the ILS landing system entered into service for runway 10/28; the communication centre, passenger terminal and parking facilities were enlarged; and a fire service building and cargo terminal were constructed.

On 19 February 1985, an Iberia flight from Madrid crashed into Mount Oiz, all passengers and crew died.

Development since 1990

In 1996, a new taxiway with two rapid exits and a new aircraft parking apron were built. The works required the removal of tons of soil poisoned with lindane residues. In May 1999, the new tower control was put into service, which allowed for a more centred vision of the airfield and at the same time facilitated airport operations. On 19 November 2000, a new terminal area was opened in the north zone, consisting of a new terminal building, with a surface area of , a car park with 3,000 parking spaces measuring and a north apron for aircraft parking to serve the new terminal area.

In February 2009, plans were announced to expand the terminal building, the facilities and the car parking so as to double the current capacity to 8 million passengers. The work was expected be finished in 2014 and cost €114 million but in 2010 the Spanish Government announced the project would be delayed by at least 5 years due to spending cuts and a decline in passenger numbers.

Design of the passenger terminal

File:Bilbao Airport interior.jpg

Bilbao Airport interior

File:Bilbao Airport finger.jpg

Bilbao Airport jetway

File:Bilbao Airport control tower - April 2019 (1).jpg

Control tower

The terminal has a sleek design, with two symmetrical "wings" and a sharp tip at its center which is especially visible when approaching the terminal from the sides. This original design has granted the building the nickname of La Paloma ("The Dove"). White concrete and glass have been used. The interiors are open and luminous spaces, distributed in two floors, the upper one for departures (check-in counters and gates) and the lower for arrivals.

There has been some criticism of Santiago Calatrava's design by Aena, the Spanish airport authority, because it seems difficult to make further enlargements in the terminal's capacity because the design is too closed. In spite of this, modifications took place in 2005–2006 in the check-in area to provide enhanced shopping facilities for travellers, which almost doubled the retail space now being offered.

Users of the airport widely complained about its lack of an arrivals area, since once passengers cleared customs, they stepped directly outside, and there they were often exposed to the elements. The airport built a glass-walled shelter to remedy this problem.

Traffic

The airport has seen a constant increase in its traffic numbers, the old terminal was already saturated and obsolete in 1990, although it had been renewed only a few years earlier. At the present day Bilbao is the most important hub in northern Spain and the number of passengers using the new terminal continues to rise, especially after the increased tourist interest in the city since the opening of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

With the past increase of traffic, the terminal would have become saturated again in a year because it is designed to handle about 4.5 million passengers per year, in 2007 it went nearly to its maximum capacity. However, the Great Recession reversed the situation by early 2009, decreasing the number of passengers by 24% in January compared to previous year. In 2014 traffic is on the rise again and saw the recovery of passengers up to 5.4 million passengers by 2018.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Bilbao Airport: Template:Airport-dest-list

Statistics

	Passengers	Change from previous year	Aircraft movements	Change from previous year	Cargo (tonnes)	Change from previous year
2000	2,556,373	Steady	45,506	Steady	4,038	Steady
2001	2,491,770	Decrease02.5%	44,166	Decrease03%	3,674	Decrease09,1%
2002	2,463,698	Decrease01.1%	39,832	Decrease09.9%	3,699	Increase00.6%
2003	2,850,524	Increase015.7%	44,009	Increase010.4%	3,813	Increase03.1%
2004	3.395,773	Increase019.1%	50,361	Increase014.4%	4,152	Increase08.9%
2005	3,843,953	Increase013.2%	56,285	Increase011.8%	3,956	Decrease04.7%
2006	3,876,072	Increase00.8%	58,574	Increase04.1%	3,417	Decrease013.6%
2007	4,286,751	Increase010.6%	63,076	Increase07.7%	3,230	Decrease05.5%
2008	4,172,903	Decrease02.7%	61,682	Decrease02.2%	3,178	Decrease01.1%
2009	3,654,957	Decrease012.4%	54,148	Decrease012.2%	2,691	Decrease015.3%
2010	3,888,969	Increase06.4%	54,119	Decrease00.1	2,547	Decrease05.4%
2011	4,045,613	Increase04.0%	54,432	Increase00.6%	2,633	Increase03.4%
2012	4,171,092	Increase03.1%	50,030	Decrease08.1%	2,663	Increase01.1%
2013	3,800,789	Decrease08.9%	42,683	Decrease014.7%	2,536	Decrease04.8%
2014	4,015,352	Increase05.6%	42,590	Decrease00.2%	2,855	Increase012.6%
2015	4,277,430	Increase06.5%	43,862	Increase03%	2,872	Increase00.6%
2016	4,588,265	Increase07.3%	45,105	Increase02.8%	2,974	Increase03.6%
2017	4,973,712	Increase08.4%	46,989	Increase04.2%	1,956	Decrease034.2%
2018	5,469,453	Increase010%	49,966	Increase06.3%	1,216	Decrease037.8%
Source: Aena Statistics

Top Carriers

Rank	Carrier	Passengers 2021	%	Passenger % Change 2020	Passenger % Change 2019
1	Vueling	1,351,077	52.35	Increase 71.4	Decrease 42.1
2	Iberia	259,469	10.05	Increase 50.5	Decrease 52.5
3	Volotea	238,769	9.25	Increase 65.9	Decrease 5.7
4	Lufthansa	211,203	8.18	Increase 80.1	Decrease 62.2
5	Air Europa	187,969	7.28	Increase 33.2	Decrease 59.1
6	KLM	80,009	3.10	Increase 36.3	Decrease 60.1
7	Air Nostrum	55,831	2.16	Increase 47.2	Decrease 63.8
8	Air France	43,708	1.69	Decrease 30.2	Decrease 79.6
9	Brussels Airlines	23,864	0.92	Decrease 22.7	Decrease 84.6
10	Eurowings	22,051	0.85	Increase 23.0	Decrease 82.9
Source: Aena Statistics

Busiest routes

Busiest european routes from BIO (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Template:Flagdeco London-Gatwick	346,237	Increase 38%
2	Template:Flagdeco Amsterdam	249,852	Increase 35%
3	Template:Flagdeco Munich	249,224	Increase 23%
4	Template:Flagdeco Frankfurt	246,794	Increase 5%
5	Template:Flagdeco Paris-Charles de Gaulle	237,398	Increase 44%
6	Template:Flagdeco Lisbon	151,299	Increase 38%
7	Template:Flagdeco Brussels	95,469	Increase 49%
8	Template:Flagdeco Dublin Airport	90,202	Increase 11%
9	Template:Flagdeco Porto	76,850	Increase 29%
10	Template:Flagdeco Manchester	61,176	Increase 12%
11	Template:Flagdeco Düsseldorf	57,787	Increase 3%
12	Template:Flagdeco Istanbul	50,800	Increase 46%
13	Template:Flagdeco Athens	49,478	Increase 162%
14	Template:Flagdeco Milan-Malpensa	45,342	Increase 121%
15	Template:Flagdeco Copenhagen	39,962	Increase 117%
16	Template:Flagdeco Rome-Fiumicino	35,312	Steady New route
17	Template:Flagdeco Florence	34,480	Steady New route
18	Template:Flagdeco Eindhoven	33,743	Increase 7%
19	Template:Flagdeco Zurich	32,894	Increase 74%
20	Template:Flagdeco Warsaw-Chopin	27,032	Steady New route
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Busiest intercontinental routes from BIO (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Template:Flagdeco Marrakech	19,433	Steady New route
2	Template:Flagdeco Tangier	18,839	Increase 24%
3	Template:Flagdeco Cairo	8,087	Increase 250%
4	Template:Flagdeco Luxor	7,787	Increase 272%
5	Template:Flagdeco Algiers	1,119	Increase 36%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Busiest domestic routes from BIO (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Template:Flagdeco Madrid	780,296	Increase 20%
2	Template:Flagdeco Barcelona	653,728	Increase 24%
3	Template:Flagdeco Seville	382,575	Increase 24%
4	Template:Flagdeco Málaga	329,166	Increase 19%
5	Template:Flagdeco Palma de Mallorca	306,392	Increase 9%
6	Template:Flagdeco Valencia	193,808	Increase 23%
7	Template:Flagdeco Tenerife-North	190,670	Increase 5%
8	Template:Flagdeco Alicante	189,624	Increase 1%
9	Template:Flagdeco Menorca	139,367	Increase 4%
10	Template:Flagdeco Lanzarote	133,360	Decrease 1%
11	Template:Flagdeco Gran Canaria	132,841	Increase 6%
12	Template:Flagdeco Ibiza	123,858	Increase 4%
13	Template:Flagdeco Santiago de Compostela	78,988	Increase 34%
14	Template:Flagdeco Fuerteventura	39,589	Decrease 11%
15	Template:Flagdeco A Coruña	29,480	Increase 10%
16	Template:Flagdeco Granada	23,925	Decrease 32%
17	Template:Flagdeco Jerez de la Frontera	18,464	Decrease 2%
18	Template:Flagdeco Almería	17,971	Increase 21%
19	Template:Flagdeco La Palma	8,788	Increase 57%
20	Template:Flagdeco Vigo	8,738	Increase 22%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Public transport

Bus

• BizkaiBus:
  • A bus line (A3247) connects Bilbao city center (Moyúa square) and the city bus station with the airport. Buses depart every 15 minutes from April to October and every 20 minutes the rest of the year.
  • A bus line (A2153) connects Bilbao city center (San Jose square) with Larrabetzu stopping at the airport. Buses depart every hour.

• Lurraldebus:
  • DO04 bus line operated by Lurraldebus to Donostia-San Sebastián; its only stop is at Zarautz - adjacent to one of the town's two Euskotren stations (at the eastern end of the town). Buses depart every hour and every 30 minutes in July and August.
  • DG12 bus line operated by Lurraldebus to Mondragón with stops in Eibar and Bergara; the last daily service continues until Oñati. There are 6 buses departing from Bergara every day, and a single bus from Oñati.

• Starting in 1st July 2025, a bus line will connect Vitoria-Gasteiz city center with Bilbao airport, buses will depart every 2 hours in the winter months, and every hour in the busier months, stopping at Vitoria bus station, Vitoria Airport and Bolueta metro station in Bilbao.

Metro extension

There is a project to extend Metro Bilbao's Line 3 to the airport in the near future, but there is no official timetable yet.

Accidents and incidents

• On 15 September 1975 British Airways flight NS552 operated by Trident 1E G-AVYD was written off at Bilbao while taking off. The aircraft came off the runway following the commander's decision to abort the take-off on a wet runway at or close to V1.
• On 19 February 1985, Iberia Flight IB610 from Madrid crashed into Mount Oiz. All 148 passengers and crew on board were killed.
• On 7 February 2001, Iberia Flight IB1456 arriving from Barcelona encountered wind shear while landing and suffered collapsed landing gear. All people on board survived but 25 people were injured.

See also

• List of airports in Spain

External links

• Template:In lang