Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
This FR is formally devoted to the flight from Madrid Barajas (MAD) to Bologna (BLQ) on the Air Nostrum CRJ-1000 (the last built one) back in March 2019, but the main purpose is to give a detailed (to the extent allowed by the limitation of 150 photos) review of the MAD's northern terminal complex - T4 and T4S as of February - March 2019. I visited it twice during my layovers in MAD between IB BLQ-MAD-SCL-MAD-BLQ flights.
Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD): Overview
MAD, located north-east of Madrid city, is the main and the largest airport of Spain and holds the 5th position in the list of Europe's busiest airports as of 2025.
MAD consists of 4 runways and 2 terminal complexes: the old, dated and ugly southern one (T1+T2+T3 - physically connected) and the northern one (T4+T4S - physically separated and connected by underground shuttle train) - built (2004) and opened (2006) a long ago, but being phenomenal for its opening time and still being modern even 20 years after.
T4 and T4S were designed by architects Antonio Lamela, Richard Rogers and Luis Vidal.
T4 has the metro and suburban train (cercanias) station, located in its basement. The northern terminal complex is connected with the southern one by shuttle bus service.
Airlines operating from T4:
Aer Lingus (IAG member), airBaltic, Air Nostrum (IB regional subsidiary), American Airlines (oneworld), Avianca (Star Alliance), Boliviana de Aviacion, British Airways (IAG member, oneworld), Bulgaria Air, Cathay Pacific (oneworld), Ceiba Intercontinental, El Al, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Finnair (oneworld), Iberia (IAG member, oneworld), Iberia Express (IB subsidiary), LATAM, Luxair, Plus Ultra, Qatar Airways (oneworld), Royal Air Maroc (oneworld), Royal Jordanian (oneworld), TAAG, Vueling (IAG member).
De-facto T4 landside, being an intra-Schengen pier, is used only by IB, IB Express, Air Nostrum, Vueling, airBaltic and Bulgaria Air. All the rest airlines depart from T4S.
MAD T4: Landside
The landside part of T4 consists of 4 floors. The photos in this section made in January 2018 before my MAD-ISL flight on TK A333.
If you arrive to MAD on a cercania or on the subway, you find yourself at the ground floor.
From here one can already see the signature roof of T4.
A fragment of the first floor.
A view of T4 landside towards the exit to the cercanias and subway from the second floor.
On the third floor under the signature wave-like roof there's the check-in hall and the departure zone.
Views of the check-in hall:
IB desks.
LA desks.
AV ticket office and desks.
BoA ticket office (closed early in the morning). BTW, BoA, now having 3 ex-VA A332s with very competitive business class and Weber 5751 seats, offers arguably the most comfortable cabins between MAD and South America (OB's hub is VVI) since the pandemic demise of IB A346s.
The check-in hall is connected by transparent bridges with the departure zone.
A view of the luggage claim hall from these bridges.
Before the entrance to the security it's possible to see a bit of airside of T4.
A stylish cafe near the security control.
As it was 2 days after Los Reyes Magicos holiday, there was a Belen in the check-in hall. Behind the Belen one can see one of several iron art installations that were present in T4 back then.
A Bit of Planespotting From T4 Landside
The check-in hall of T4 provides some views of the apron of T4 with dull mainline IB and IB express narrowbodies (back then in early 2018 the mainline IB and IB Express narrowbody fleet consisted only of ceo-types of the A320 family).
MAD T4S
The satellite terminal T4S is undoubtely the most interesting part of MAD.
This is how T4S looks from outside (the first photo in the gallery is made from EC-JNQ, departing for SCL). The color of its pillars has rainbow gradient from red (the south end) to blue (the north end), helping to navigate along the pier. T4S has 2 ATC tower - the main one stands separately, the secondary one is integrated into the T4S building.
Some outside elements of T4S' roof.
If you think that T4S has only international (S) pier - that's not true. It also has Schengen M-gates on the ground floor, which are exclusively used for Air Nostrum flights, as YW uses some parking stands near T4S for its CRXs. So, if you're connecting from an YW flight on CRX to a longhaul flight from T4S, you'll most probably avoid going the extra mile to the main T4 building and then taking the train to T4S - thanks to M-gates, you'll be directly offloaded into T4S building! This was exactly my case with BLQ-MAD-SCL flights.
The corridor leading to M- and S-gates from where you're offloaded into T4S. BTW, these lamps on the ceiling reminds LHR T5.
M-gates on the ground floor. As you may guess, it's not the best part of T4S.
To reach S-gates you have to clear immigration in T4S.
Duty-free shops after the immigration. The date of my first visit to T4S was close to the date of Chinese NY-2019.
The central part of S-pier houses a number of shops and cafes and also has the ceiling in LHR T5-style.
And here are S-gates under the waved roof. One can easily navigate along the pier using the rainbow-gradient color of the pillars: red = the southern end, blue = the northern end.
Sleeping place near the southern end. Note a reflection of one of now-long-gone IB A346 on the right.
A couple of children playgrounds - one near the southern end and one near the middle.
The "famous" El Al security point. I once experienced such screening in DXB in 2023 when was flying DXB-TLV on LY B789 an it was something.
A couple of S-gates which give an idea what some IB's routings to the Latin American destination in the northern hemisphere were like year before the pandemic.
FIDs for the midday departure bank. Only a small number of US, East Asian, Middle East and North African destinations with the absolute domination of Latin America. One can guess that at this time T4S was really bustling with a load of IB A346s, A359s and A332s departing almost simultaneously. My flight IB6831 to SCL was departing at 12:20.
Views of the S-pier from the arrival gallery. At around 18:00, when my flight from SCL arrived, T4S looked really deserted.
Some views of T4S' wave roof from the arrival gallery.
FIDs for connections (from all the terminals, including the southern ones) in the late evening. Some of the flights (like SU flight to SVO) are absolutely unimaginable now.
IB customer service desk in the transfer zone of T4S.
Immigration in T4S for those going to T4.
Views of T4S on the way down from the immigration to the shuttle train.
The shuttle train, connecting the Schengen side of T4S with T4.
Planespotting From (And Around) MAD T4S
Before going to the review of T4, let me present the most (bitter) sweet part of MAD - planespotting from T4S and from my IB flights MAD-SCL (on departure) and SCL-MAD (on arrival). You get why "bitter" - because all the planes that was making MAD kind of special - entirely (except of some PU ones) disappeared during the pandemic.
Let's start with the photos made on 17 February 2019, when I was departing for SCL.
IB A359, IB A332 and YW CRX near the northern end of T4S.
An IB A346 near the northern end of T4S.
AA B77E (N753AN) on a remote stand near T4S.
2005-built IB A346 (EC-JCZ) named "Vicente Aleixandre" on a remote stand near T4S. It was phased out even before the pandemic - in January 2020, and was scrapped in 2022.
Tails of IB widebodies near T4S. The one with the old livery is A346 (EC-JNQ) that flew me to SCL.
An IB A346 taxiing west of T4S.
2003-built IB A346 (EC-INO) named "Gaudi". After the withdrawal from IB fleet in March 2020, EC-INO joined for a short while AirX Charter, then - also for a short while - Air Atlanta Icelandic, then it was meant to join Global Aviation (a South African airline), but never entered into service and is currently stored.
2005-built IB A346 (EC-JNQ) named "Antonio Machado" that flew me MAD-SCL on 17 February 2019. After the withdrawal from IB fleet in 2020 it was scrapped in 2022.
IAE-powered A321SL (OH-LZO) of Finnair.
An AA A332. AA completely phased out its A332s during the pandemic.
2005-built IB A346 (EC-JFX) named "Jacinto Benavente". After phasing out from IB fleet in 2020, it was scrapped in 2022.
An IB Express A320 taxiing along T4 with Madrid downtown towers on the backdrop.
2003-built IB A346 (EC-IQR) named "Salvador Dali". After phasing out in 2020 from IB fleet, it was stored in MAD and thankfully avoided scrapping.
CX A35K (B-LXG) from HKG. It was the first time I saw an A35K.
IB A332 (EC-MUD) named "Johannesburgo".
2009-built IB A346 (EC-LCZ) named "Miguel Servet". I already saw this A346 in GRU back in 2016 when it had the old livery; this time it was repainted into the new dull livery. After phasing out from IB fleet in 2020 it was stored in MAD.
2003-built IB A346 (EC-IOB) named "Julio Romero de Torres". After phasing out from IB fleet in 2020 it joined for a short while Air Atlanta Icelandic, but then was stored and probably will end up scrapped. On the last photo in this gallery EC-IOB is seen from EC-JNQ.
2004-built IB A346 (EC-IZX) named "Mariano Benlliure" offloading passengers on a remote stand near T4S. After phasing out from IB fleet in 2020 it was partially scrapped in MAD.
An IB A359 on a remote stand near T4S. Starting from 2018, IB fully replaced its phased-out A346 fleet with A359s. Unfortunately, for the economy passengers it's a drastic downgrade, as all the IB A359s (including the NPS ones) have extremely uncomfortable Recaro CL3710 seats in Y.
BA A320 (G-EUUP), departing for LHR.
1993-built B733 (YR-BGE) of TAROM from OTP and CRX (EC-MJO) of Air Nostrum. YR-BGE left RO fleet in 2021.
IB A333 (EC-LUX) named "Panama". IB A333s have the same business (Stelia Solstys), premium economy (Recaro PL3510) and economy (Weber 5751) cabins as the now-long-gone IB A346s had. So, if you fly one of these A333s, you can kind of feel the spirit of IB A346s.
An UA B764, taxiing west of T4S.
AA B763 (N390AA). AA completely retired all its B763s during the pandemic. N390AA was converted to freighter in 2020.
B738 (7T-VJO) Air Algerie.
IB A359 (EC-MYX) named "Paco de Lucia" near the northern end of T4S.
IB A333 (EC-LYF) named "Juan Carlos I" near the northern end of T4S.
EC-LYF seen from EC-JNQ.
IB A332 (EC-MSY) named "Santo Domingo".
An AV B788. AV is the only exception from Star Alliance, allowed to T4S. All the other Star Alliance and Skyteam carriers, serving MAD, operate from the ugly and dated south terminal complex.
El Al B739 (4X-EHH). LY also got the privilege of using T4S.
Then-LATAM A359 (PR-XTI, now N573DZ of DL).
An EK A388. Now, with the pandemic (and post-pandemic) demise of IB A346s, Wamos B744s and PU A346s and A343s, it's the only quadjet type that serves MAD.
The world's largest quadjet seen from the world's second-longest quadjet.
AA A332 and 2010-built IB A346 (EC-LFS) named "Ciudad de México" - the last ever A346 built. After phasing out in 2020, EC-LFS was stored in MAD and, thankfully, avoided scrapper.
Let's continue a bit with the photos made on 9 March 2019 when arriving from SCL.
The cemetery of ex-IB A343s and MDs and IB MRO hangar, seen from IB A346 (EC-LEU) moments before landing.
An unairworthy B722 and a firefighting trainer, seen from IB A346 (EC-LEU) moments before landing.
A BA B77W, departing for LHR (before the pandemic BA used to serve MAD with B77Ws from time to time; now it serves MAD with B77Es on BA460/461 frequency) and 2005-built IB A346 (EC-JCY) named "Andres Segovia". EC-JCY was phased out and scrapped in 2020. On the backdrop one can see the tail of EC-JNQ that flew me MAD-SCL on 17 February 2019.
EC-JCY seen from the arrival gallery of T4S.
MAD T4
This is how T4 looks from T4S. One can see that T4 also has its proper ATC tower.
Let's now enter T4, having arrived from the Schengen part of T4S on the shuttle train.
The first thing one can see while leaving the train station, is this beautiful panel. I apologize for the quality - the Spanish cerberi (how I hate them - from the pre-pandemic IB and UX crews to MAD security staff!) were ready to kill me call the police when I tried to take a photo with a DSLR, so I had to take this photo secretly with my then-very-bad smartphone. And this is only a part of this panel.
Entering the connections…
… and passing by luggage claim hall…
… you find yourself near FIDs for departures from T4 under these plafonniers in Spanish colors - red and yellow (the colors of the Castillan soil).
Duty free on the way to the pier.
A "puente aereo" bridge from the check-in hall of T4 to the security control for the passengers of trunk domestic routes like MAD-BCN.
The center of the pier.
Shops and eateries near the center of the pier.
Seating area in the northern half of the pier and a bit of apron view.
A view of the outer part of the roof. The principle is the same as in T4S - the more blueish are the pillars, the closer is the northern end, the more reddish are the pillars, the closer is the southern end.
A view of the main building of T4 with some reflection of the sunset.
Views of the pier while moving towards the northern (blue) end. T4 feels more lofty than T4S due to the absence of the overhead arrival galleries (understandably, being the Schengen pier). I didn't visit the southern part of the T4 pier, because I was extremely frustrated and angry after SCL-MAD flight, ruined by the absolutely satanic IB crew and incredibly inferior service.
A children playground near the northern end of the pier.
A view of the northern end of T4 from the outside.
The Flight
And, finally, briefly about the Air Nostrum MAD-BLQ flight.
It was operated by 2018-built EC-MXA - not only it's the last YW's CRX, but the last ever CRX built!
A view of the cabin with the priority (grey) and regular (red) rows.
The seatback with a promotion of Islas Cies near Vigo.
Some (not all - here I drop, for example, buy-on-board menu) seatpocket content: safety card, inflight magazine and waste bag.
As the flight was fully nighttime, there's nothing to write home about, except the crew. Whereas on the previous YW BLQ-MAD flight the crew were rather indifferent, on this flight the crew were demonstrating hostile attitude towards taking photos onboard. Though, the crew were younger than the old witches on the longhaul MAD-SCL-MAD flights, and using some diplomacy, I persuaded them to allow me to take some photos. This flight put an end on my inglorious experience with IB. Considering that the post-pandemic IB fleet is extremely boring, I will hardly fly IB again even taking into account that the crew's attitude has reportedly improved after the pandemic.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
