Passenger Terminal
Bilbao runs on a single terminal, and Aena’s own airline directory shows it: the carriers serving the airport’s 70 destinations are tagged with the same letter, “T”. The current building traces to 19 November 2000, when Aena opened a new north terminal area — 32,000 m² of terminal plus a 95,000 m² car park — replacing the one named after Carlos Haya back in 1950. It is widely reported (though not on Aena’s own pages) as a Santiago Calatrava design nicknamed “La Paloma”, the dove, for its two curved wings.
Check-in desks sit on the upper floor, up to 38 of them across four groups. Aena recommends arriving an hour and a half ahead for a Schengen flight and three hours for a non-Schengen one; the terminal itself opens its doors at 4:45 and closes at midnight, every day. Most airlines take online or mobile check-in, so a printed or phone boarding pass can go straight to security if there is only carry-on luggage.
Departing passengers clear a metal-detector arch and an x-ray scan of hand luggage before reaching the gates, which sit beyond the checkpoint on the mezzanine (jet bridges) and the ground floor (remote boarding). A Fast Lane speeds up that checkpoint for Business or eligible loyalty-card flyers, and families travelling with children get free, preferential access to the family lanes.
Barrier-free assistance has to be requested at least 48 hours ahead — through the airline, travel agent, the Aena app or by phone — and passengers using it are asked to reach their meeting point about two and a half hours before departure. Aena publishes maximum waiting times by percentile (for example, 80% of departing passengers with prior notice are met within 10 minutes) and routes unresolved complaints to Spain’s State Air Safety Agency (AESA).