Bilbao Airport

Overview summary

Bilbao Airport is the most important airport in the Basque Country and northern Spain, transporting over 4 million passengers in 2011. The airport is very well known for its sleek two wing terminal that opened in 2000, designed by the Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava.

History | Location | Landing | Facts | Facilities

History

Interest in building an airport in the province of Biscay was first shown by the ‘Union of Public Work’ in 1927, leading to the construction of the airport during the Civil War. However, during this time and until 1937 the airport was only used as a military base, and was not open for public use. It wasn’t until 1938 that the airport began to expand. Bilbao’s airport landing systems were improved during 1964 to 1965, adding an ILS landing system and a storm detector. The runway was also extended to 2,000.

As interest grew in Bilbao’s airport, a new terminal was opened in the North terminal, with a surface area of 32,000 m2 , and a new car park was built with 3,000 parking spaces, in order facilitate the growing demand.More recently in February 2009, plans were announced to double the existing capacity to 8 million passengers. Improvements are currently underway, with the expansion of the terminal building, airport facilities and car parking space.

Location

Bilbao is located in the province of Biscay, in Northern Spain. The airport itself is only a 10-15-minute drive from the centre of Bilbao.

Landing

Facts

Elevation – 42m above sea level
Runway lengths – 2,000m and 2,600m
Airport code - BIO

Facilities

5 ATM/Cash Machines on Floor 3 (3 machines) and Floor 1 (2 machines)