MADRID (AFP) – Spain will invest EUR2.4 billion (USD2.6 billion) to expand Madrid airport and turn it into one of the biggest in the European Union (EU), Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Friday.
The expansion will allow the airport to move 90 million passengers per year by 2031, a 28 per cent increase from current traffic volumes, as well as generate “thousands” of new jobs, he said during an address at Madrid’s FITUR tourism congress.
It will also consolidate the airport as Europe’s leading hub to Latin America and develop its connections to Asia with new routes, he added.
“This will be the biggest investment in the last decade in airport infrastructure in Spain,” Sanchez said. “We are going to convert Madrid airport into one of the biggest airports in the EU and thus the world.”
Spain is the world’s second-most visited country after France and tourism is crucial for the domestic economy, making up 12.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2023.
The country received a record number of foreign tourists last year, over 84 million, and the amount is expected to rise in 2024.
Some 60 million passengers passed through Madrid airport last year.
