Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD) is Spain's primary international gateway and the second-largest airport in Europe by physical size, covering over 3,000 hectares just behind Paris Charles de Gaulle. In 2025, it served 68.1 million passengers, making it the busiest in Spain and the fifth-busiest in Europe. Opened in 1931, the airport grew from a simple grass airstrip into a vital link between Europe and Latin America, and today serves as the main hub for Iberia, which handles over 40% of its traffic. Renamed in 2014 to honor Adolfo Suárez, the first Spanish Prime Minister after Franco's dictatorship, the facility now boasts five passenger terminals (T1, T2, T3, T4, and T4S). Its rapid modernization was significantly propelled by the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and it now handles millions of travelers annually, a huge leap from its original capacity of just 30,000 passengers per year.