An airport to move forward
The expansion of El Prat Airport has been under discussion for years without reaching an agreement that would make it possible. Now, if all goes according to plan, the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, will present an expansion plan to finally unblock the project. The objective, supported by Barcelona City Council, is clear: to connect the city with the world's major socioeconomic centers.
The three executives—central, regional, and local—along with the airlines and the business community, consider expanding the already overstretched infrastructure a priority to increase competitiveness and increase intercontinental flights, with a special focus on Asia. Aena's shareholders also consider El Prat a profitable gem with a long way to go.
El Prat de Llobregat Airport Extension of the third runway to increase capacity for long-haul flights
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The commission studying the airport's future has a proposal ready, which will be formalized in the coming days. It seeks to gather technical, economic, environmental, and political criteria. The option put forward involves lengthening the third runway—the takeoff runway—by 500 meters, as initially proposed by Aena. However, the extension would have a lesser impact on La Ricarda because it would begin further west, from the Remolar area. This will avoid affecting the lagoon in the La Ricarda protected area, which has become an environmental symbol for those opposed to the expansion. This approach would also require Brussels' approval to be included in the Natura 2000 network.
El Prat broke the record for intercontinental passengers last yearAt a forum organized by La Vanguardia a few weeks ago, Aena president Maurici Lucena expressed openness to introducing some nuances into the project, as will ultimately be the case. "We are willing to accept nuances," he stated at the time. This is a similar idea to the one put forward by the Barcelona City Council's committee of experts on the airport in March. In their report, they advocated a "compromise solution" that would allow the runway to be extended while avoiding the lagoon. Furthermore, the committee, chaired by former minister Santi Vila, called for the requirements set by the EU to be met.
Any expansion plan will require a significant package of environmental compensation to obtain permits. The City Council's opinion emphasizes the need to fulfill the outstanding environmental commitments from the previous expansion. It also emphasizes that new compensation should be addressed prior to the next expansion. Among the actions to be undertaken are improving the condition of wetlands and renaturalizing certain areas surrounding the airport.
Extending the third runway would allow more long-haul and larger aircraft—the so-called wide-body aircraft —to take off from El Prat Airport while maintaining the use of the segregated runways, with one for takeoff and one for landing, thus avoiding additional noise in neighboring towns. The expansion would include a satellite terminal and improvements to the connections between Terminals 1 and 2. All of this would entail an investment that could exceed €2 billion, more than the €1.7 billion initially proposed, due to inflation.
This way, it is hoped to attract more airlines to cover routes between continents without congesting the airport, which is currently at capacity limits—in 2024, it will exceed 55 million passengers. In fact, El Prat Airport has broken a new record for intercontinental travelers, increasing their share of the total last year. More than 3.9 million long-haul passengers passed through Barcelona's terminals last year, 22.4% more than in 2023 and, more importantly, 9% higher than in 2019, the previous record. It has 50 intercontinental destinations, including those in the United States.
The port of Barcelona The expansion of road and rail access to improve infrastructure
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The intense maritime traffic experienced by the Port of Barcelona requires commensurate land support, with a large intermodal terminal that facilitates the loading and unloading of containers. The new road and rail accesses must address this deficit, which has been dragging on for 30 years and is now beginning to become a reality after much back and forth. The three administrations involved (Ministry of Transport, Adif, and the Port of Barcelona) have signed financing commitments, budgeted at 730 million euros to be divided equally between the three parties. Meanwhile, the executive project is in the final drafting phase. The next and final step will be the tendering of highly technically complex works. The limited space available between the Llobregat River on one side and the warehouses of the Free Trade Zone on the other will be maximized through a sandwich-like structure. The existing narrow-gauge tracks will be boxed in there, with a lower level dedicated to the international-gauge tracks connected to the Mediterranean corridor and the upper section designated for the new highway. Once work begins, it will take at least three years. To meet the deadlines, preliminary work has been underway for months, including numerous reroutings of pipes, collectors, and all types of cabling. Aside from access, the Port Authority has several projects underway worth more than 330 million euros. The most notable are the concentration of cruise ship activity at the Adossat dock and the electrification plan to provide ships with electricity when they dock. | David Guerrero
lavanguardia
