El-Hil We Alterhal For Travel And Tourism: Torrejón de Ardoz

Torrejón de Ardoz Spain

Torrejón de Ardoz is a town in the autonomous community of Madrid, Spain, about 20 km east of central Madrid on the A-2 (Madrid–Barcelona motorway). It’s largely a commuter town made up mainly of apartment blocks, a large shopping centre and a park with scale models of many famous European landmarks. You can get there by bus from Avenida de América bus station in Madrid (about 25 minutes) or by commuter train from Madrid Atocha railway station (around 30 minutes). The town hosts the European Union Satellite Centre, an agency of the EU, and is also home to the headquarters of the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, the Spanish space agency. There is a military air base in Torrejón de Ardoz which receives business jets, and its runway is visible on the right when landing at Madrid–Barajas Airport. For many years the United States Air Force operated from the base under agreements with Francisco Franco, helping to protect NATO’s southern flank. One of the election pledges of Felipe González’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) was to close the base to the American fighter wing. After González was elected, the lease of the then 401st Tactical Fighter Wing (now the 401st Air Expeditionary Wing) was not renewed, and the F-16 fighter wing left the base in the early 1990s.

Recommended airport

Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas (MAD)

Nearby destinations

Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain

Torrejón de Ardoz Spain