The expansion of Barcelona airport It has triggered a bitter debate between detractors and supporters from the moment in which the Catalan Mauricio Lucena, president of Aena, suddenly launched a large expansion project due to -this was the main justification- the risk of collapse. A half truth. Rare is the airport in Europe that boasts that it does not suffer a collapse, which is solved by sending flights to satellite airports. In the case of Barcelona, those of Reus and Girona. In addition, El Prat (like Barajas) are still far from the figures harvested in 2019. El Prat closed 2022 with 42 million passengers and Barajas 51.
The latest proposal to solve the hieroglyphic is a new (fourth) clue about the sea that has immediately fallen on deaf ears after rejection by the Government. But the debate is still alive and the budget agreement between Republicans and Socialists – which included a boost to the airport – is far from closing the issue.
Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport is the sixth in number of passengers in Europe. Madrid is the fifth. 53 million passengers in 2019 for 62 from Barajas. First and second airports in Spain in number of passengers. Which gives a good account of its importance. Although the dimensions of El Prat are much more modest than those of Barajas. Among other issues, due to its complex location. Parallel to the sea, next to the Delta del Llobregat and with its main track bordering the urbanizations of Gavà and Castelldefels.
Everything in Barcelona is denser. In fact it is by far the densest city in Europe. Madrid has a municipal area of 600 square kilometers compared to Barcelona’s just over 100, counting the mountains that surround it: Montjuïc and Collserola. This density also occurs in El Prat in a much smaller space for a much more similar number of flights. Madrid airport also has a much larger area and four terminals (five if you count the 4 satellite) for two Barcelona.
That density in El Prat is accentuated in its three tracks how much the use of its only long runway (3,743 meters) has been restricted, the so-called mountain, which runs next to the urban centers of Gavà and Castelldefels. Essential runway for the takeoff of large planes that go from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. Planes with two, three or even four aisles that can transport 800 people like the Boeing 747-400.
The long runway problem is the annoyance that the deafening noise causes to the neighbours. As is the case with the modest Madrid–Cuatro Vientos Airport. So that its use was restricted and the planes take off in the direction of Barcelona instead of heading south, Castelldefels. As long as the wind does not prevent it, because planes should not take off against the wind.
When the restrictions on the mountain track began, there were few transoceanic flights. But El Prat has not stopped growing, multiplying flights and connections. The number of flights and destinations that fly over the oceans has increased and, furthermore, this type of flight is the one experiencing the most demand and growth. And what was intended to be occasional threatens to be habitual. Therein lies the problem. In 2019, 2,334 aircraft used the mountain runway. But forecasts indicate that the figure will rise to 5,300, according to the economist Miquel Puig in his last book “La ciutat unsatisfeta”. And it doesn’t seem that Barcelona’s current infrastructure can handle it.
It should be said that noise restrictions are by no means exceptional in the main European airports. Starting with London. Or that the demand has been covered with subsidiary airports for domestic flights. For example, in New York. JFK is the main international airport. But it has two subsidiary airports, mainly for internal flights, La Guardia and Newark.
Aena’s proposal
What is Aena’s proposal? Extend the sea track in the direction of the Barcelona Free Zone by about 500 meters with which the sea track would go from 2,660 meters to 3,160, which inevitably means invading the natural area of the Llobregat Delta and destroying the Ricarda saline lagoon, an area protected by the European Union. All in all, the track would continue to have a modest route for, for example, more than 4,000 meters of the two main Barajas tracks. That means not all the planes would be able to take off. In particular if the weather does not accompany, because these inclemencies require more track. Aena says -it is supposed- that in these circumstances they would resort to the mountain track, the one that runs next to Gavà and Castelledefels. As comparative. El Prat has three slopes, counting the transversal and the mountain. Madrid airport has four. One of them, the longest in Europe with 4,350 meters, is a second track of 4,100. The two new ones, in parallel, have 3,500 meters. The number of operations at Barajas in 2022 on its four operating runways was 351,960 while at El Prat it was 238,394. 52 million Barajas passengers (still far from the 2019 figures) and 42 El Prat. Only that El Prat has half the tracks. And one, the mountain, only part-time. The third is the transversal one, which crosses the mountain track and reaches the sea track diagonally. Nothing to do with the four fully operational tracks in parallel at Barajas.
The bulk of the air traffic in El Prat uses the sea runway. In addition to a third track, transversal, which crosses both tracks. The sea (short) and the mountain (long). The sea one has 2,660 meters. The cross, 2,528. Both insufficient to lift an aircraft of up to 400 tons (although they are usually below) that needs a much longer journey to reach the necessary 250 kilometers per hour. Landing does not require as much track because you can always resort to more intense braking.
One of the questions that has been raised is build the long track of El Prat in Reus. If the airports of Girona and Reus were connected by the AVE with Barcelona, that would help to relieve congestion at the Barcelona airport and it would solve the controversy of the third track and the preservation of the Ricarda in addition to driving away the noise of the urban centers of Castelledefels and Gavà. Another solution -which is always verbalized with a small mouth- would be the expropriation of the entire perimeter of houses near the long track of El Prat and the consequent compensation. A controversial and thorny issue. Another would be to unleash the third track by taking dubious measures to alleviate the noise, which today nobody seems willing to assume.