2023-08-22 20:26:59
BarcelonaJosep Antoni Acebillo (Osca, 1946) was the city manager of Barcelona during the mayorship of Pasqual Maragall and was largely responsible for the transformation of the city for the Olympic Games in 1992. Now, with the engineer Albert Vilalta , has presented a new proposal for the expansion of El Prat airport. His project consists of extending the transversal runway – technically runway 02 20 – into the interior of the sea, with a breakwater. A solution that, according to him, “is cheaper” than the other proposals that have been made, allows for improved operations and “is respectful of the environment”.
The new proposal for El Prat
According to Acebillo, his proposal would make it possible to get a runway that would reach 3,700 meters in length or more, which would allow the take-off of large planes, for intercontinental flights, without their noise affecting the neighbors, because ‘they would fly over the sea. In addition, Acebillo’s proposal would expand the Remolar wetland by 70 hectares and stabilize the Prat beaches.
However, Acebillo points out that aircraft manufacturers are moving away from large aircraft and airlines are increasingly ordering new generation aircraft that are more efficient, have longer range and are made of lighter materials, which means they need less runway to fly. be able to take off
The former manager of the Olympic works is critical of the debate about the airport. “It is more important to modernize than to expand”, and he remembers that there are airports with less capacity than the Prat one, such as those in Zurich or Boston, “which are large hubs internationals”. Aena, the company under state control that manages the airports, should not be criticized. “Aena manages the quantity well, but not the quality”, he says.
“The chip needs to be changed, the weight is not put where it is needed: job creation, promotion of freight transport and protection of wetlands,” he says about the debate on the Prat expansion. And he doesn’t spare politicians criticism either: “Catalonia cannot afford to have this issue so neglected.”
In this sense, Josep Antoni Acebillo indicates that in the management of El Prat there are major pending subjects, such as the connection with the high-speed train, the improvement of the connection between terminals and, above all, the development of an airport city and the enhancement of cargo transport. “If Madrid has half a million tons of cargo a year, Barcelona should have a million, and it has just reached 177,000. An airport hub it must generate 1,000 direct jobs and 5,000 indirect jobs for every million passengers,” says Acebillo, and this implies transporting more cargo and developing an entire business area around the airport.
To promote cargo transport, which would mean more night flights, Acebillo considers his proposal appropriate, because planes could take off in the direction of the sea without being disturbed by noise.
The architect defends his proposal environmentally. It does not affect Ricarda, unlike Aena’s initial proposal. He also defends that during the summer months, when the noise can affect the neighbors more, the winds would allow the planes to take off in the direction of the sea, which would not affect the residents of Castelldefels and Gavà.
Operational
In addition, Acebillo defends that the fact that the tracks cross should not affect the operation. In this sense, it indicates that there are important airports, such as Boston, in which the runways cross, because this allows to maximize the use of the land. Regarding the breakwater to grow towards the sea, Acebillo assures that it already exists at other airports, such as Sydney, which has two breakwaters perpendicular to the sea.
The author of the project does not quantify the investment that would be necessary to make the breakwater into the sea that would allow the transversal track to be extended, but he believes that it would be cheaper than other proposals that have been made, such as making a track totally marine on pylons. “There isn’t one in the world on a hypostyle surface. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it would be throwing money away,” he says.
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