Bilbao Airport is a minor international airport located northEAD Basic 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, which opened in 2000, designed by Santiago Calatrava.

History

Foundation and early years

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

Development since 1990 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 five years due to spending cuts and a decline in passenger numbers.

Design of the passenger terminal

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").

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

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 nearly reached its maximum capacity. However, the Great Recession reversed the situation by early 2009, decreasing the number of passengers by 24% in January compared to the previous year. In 2014, traffic was on the rise again, and the airport 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:

Statistics

+ Passengers Change from previous year Aircraft movements Change from previous year Cargo (tonnes) Change from previous year20002,556,373 45,506 4,038 20012,491,770 2.5% 44,166 3% 3,674 9,1%20022,463,698 1.1% 39,832 9.9% 3,699 0.6%20032,850,524 15.7% 44,009 10.4% 3,813 3.1%20043.395,773 19.1% 50,361 14.4% 4,152 8.9%20053,843,953 13.2% 56,285 11.8% 3,956 4.7%20063,876,072 0.8% 58,574 4.1% 3,417 13.6%20074,286,751 10.6% 63,076 7.7% 3,230 5.5%20084,172,903 2.7% 61,682 2.2% 3,178 1.1%20093,654,957 12.4% 54,148 12.2% 2,691 15.3%20103,888,969 6.4% 54,119 0.1 2,547 5.4%20114,045,613 4.0% 54,432 0.6% 2,633 3.4%20124,171,092 3.1% 50,030 8.1% 2,663 1.1%20133,800,789 8.9% 42,683 14.7% 2,536 4.8%20144,015,352 5.6% 42,590 0.2% 2,855 12.6%20154,277,430 6.5% 43,862 3% 2,872 0.6%20164,588,265 7.3% 45,105 2.8% 2,974 3.6%20174,973,712 8.4% 46,989 4.2% 1,956 34.2%20185,469,453 10% 49,966 6.3% 1,216 37.8% Source: Aena Statistics

Top carriers Rank Carrier Passengers 2025 % Passenger % change 2025 1 Vueling 3,311,685 46.8% 0.004% 2 Volotea 608,427 8.6% 3.29% 3 Lufthansa 590,231 8.3% 7.14% 4 Air Europa 529,084 7.5% 0.33% 5 Iberia 409,473 5.7% 4.09% 6 KLM 235,242 3.3% 6.82% 7 Easyjet 191,252 2.7% 8.45% 8 Wizzair 148,941 2.1% 118.78% 9 Air France 144,785 2.0% 14.95% 10 Eurowings 136,634 1.9% 32.63% 11 Air Nostrum 107,669 1.5% 16.35% 12 Aer Lingus 101,262 1.4% 30.91% 13 Turkish Airlines 94,248 1.3% 19.47% 14 Brussels Airlines 91,132 1.2% 9.22% 15 TAP Air Portugal 60,297 0.8% 7.64% Source: Aena Statistics

Busiest routes + Busiest European routes from BIO (2025) Rank Destination Passengers Change 2024/25 1 London-Gatwick 340,730 17.4% 2 Amsterdam 304,365 5.8% 3 Munich 295,806 4.1% 4 Frankfurt 294,614 10.4% 5 Paris-Charles de Gaulle 145,574 35.5% 6 Brussels 124,512 2.0% 7 Paris-Orly 122,482 255.9% 8 Rome-Fiumicino 106,482 146.4% 9 Lisbon 106,012 1.8% 10 Milan-Malpensa 105,868 39.6% 11 Istanbul 94,687 19.6% 12 London-Heathrow 86,562 new route 13 Dublin Airport 81.554 5.4% 14 Düsseldorf 79,889 17.7% 15 Porto 78,419 3.4% 16 Manchester 68,120 16.4% 17 Zurich 39,598 14.0% 18 Athens 39,439 8.9% 19 Prague 37,646 49.4% 20 Vienna 37,531 14.9% Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

+ Busiest intercontinental routes from BIO (2025) Rank Destination Passengers Change 2024/25 1 Marrakesh 40,168 4.1% 2 Tangier 29,135 28.8% 3 New York-Newark 15,071 new route 4 Luxor 6,115 160.3% 5 Cairo 5,633 137.9% 6 Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen 4,789 new route 7 Sal 4,329 13.3% 8 Tinduf 545 84.7% 9 Algiers 530 25.5% 10 Jeddah 403 new route Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

+ Busiest domestic routes from BIO (2025) Rank Destination Passengers Change 2024/25 1 Madrid 830,231 2.5% 2 Barcelona 686,705 1.1% 3 Málaga 354,688 1.0% 4 Seville 354,086 0.2% 5 Palma de Mallorca 312,857 0.03% 6 Tenerife-North 242,411 11.4% 7 Valencia 204,666 1.9% 8 Gran Canaria 203,717 9.6% 9 Alicante 177,407 11.7% 10 Lanzarote 125.176 0.05% 11 Menorca 93,063 15.8% 12 Ibiza 92,059 16.2% 13 Santiago de Compostela 63,639 19.5% 14 Fuerteventura 59,999 33,4% 15 Tenerife-South 35,252 0.6% 16 Granada 28,852 8.8% 17 Murcia 12,538 13.1% 18 Castellón 10,101 3.3% 19 Jerez de la Frontera 7,812 1.3% 20 Almería 4,437 75.6% Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Public transport

Bus BizkaiBus: A bus line (A3247) connects Bilbao city center (Plaza Elíptica) and the city bus station with the airport. Buses depart every 12 minutes during July and August, and every 15 minutes the rest of the year.Moovit, A3247: Aireportua/Aeropuerto (Etorrerak/Llegadas) (1003)→Bilbao Intermodal (2877), accessed 18 March 2021 The bus reaches the city center in 15 minutes. A bus line (A2153) connects Bilbao city center (San Jose square) with Larrabetzu stopping at the airport. Buses depart every hour. Starting in 2029, bus line (A3248) will connect Ansio metro station in Barakaldo with the airport via the Rontegi bridge. Buses will depart every 30 minutes. 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 October to June, and every 30 minutes from the end of June to the end of September. 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. Autobuses La Unión: Line A3720 connects Vitoria-Gasteiz city center with Bilbao airport, buses 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.Gasteiz Hoy Hasta 13 autobuses diarios desde el centro de Vitoria al aeropuerto de Bilbao , accessed 3 May 2023

Metro extension There is a project to extend the Bilbao Metro'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 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

References

External links