What airport is MAD?
Why the code is MAD
The first three letters of Madrid.
The airport authority or a contemporaneous record states this directly.
The airport
- IATA code
- MAD
- ICAO code
- LEMD
- Airport
- Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport
- City
- Madrid, Spain
- Code origin
- Documented
Terminal 4, by Richard Rogers and Estudio Lamela, has a bamboo roof that undulates the length of the building and columns painted in a colour gradient so passengers can tell where they are by hue. Madrid is the main European gateway to Latin America.
The other code, LEMD
Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, MAD, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, LEMD, is the one pilots and controllers use, and it is assigned geographically: the first letter or two identify the region, so every airport in the same part of the world shares a prefix. That is why LEMD looks nothing like MAD.
Common questions
- What airport is MAD?
- Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, in Madrid, Spain.
- Why is Madrid's airport called MAD?
- The first three letters of Madrid.
- What is the difference between MAD and LEMD?
- MAD is the IATA code, used commercially — tickets, timetables, luggage tags. LEMD is the ICAO code, used operationally by pilots and air traffic control, and assigned geographically by region.
Related pages
- Spain Capital, area, population and currency
- The flag of Spain Colours, symbols and lookalikes
- Airport codes in Spain 2 here
- What airport is BCN? Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, Barcelona
Sources
- OurAirports — OurAirports (Public domain)