The Generalitat de Catalunya is the only actor involved in the future of Barcelona airport that has not yet finalized a proposal for its improvement. But that doesn’t mean I don’t work on it. The ministry of territory has activated a group, coordinated by the president of Aeroports de Catalunya, Daniel Albalate, to give shape to the Government’s own alternative. It prioritizes the historical demand to manage the Prat from Catalonia, through a formula that allows the Generalitat to be involved.
From a technical point of view, the Executive of Pere Aragonès is looking for a way to increase the capacity of long-haul flights without adding more low-cost flights to El Prat. The option of deriving short flights to Reus and Girona to decongest Barcelona has always been on the table, but it conflicts with the legislation that protects the flight rights – slots – of the airlines. The proposal, therefore, is not closed, despite the fact that the Government has undertaken to present it to the commission of experts agreed with the PSC and the central Government. And it must be activated before the end of the year.
This joint commission will have to re-evaluate the options to boost long-range flights – those that fly between continents. Now El Prat cannot deploy its full capacity (90 operations per hour) because it has to use the runways in a segregated manner – one for take off and another for landing – to minimize the noise on the neighboring towns, which causes congestion at peak times and problems for some of the larger planes. A longer runway, advocate the expansion, would solve the problem of congestion, but it must exceed the environmental requirements.
The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, continues to defend Aena’s proposal: to extend the third runway 500 meters to the east and build a satellite terminal. “It’s the best option”, he emphasized yesterday during a visit to Tarragona.
The mayor of Prat de Llobregat, Lluís Mijoler, of the Commons, rejected the conclusions of Foment. “They are expired proposals; we are in a climate emergency”, he said. His bet is not to expand the airport.
Environmentalists also charged against any possibility of extending El Prat. From the ZeroPort platform they called for a broad “political debate” on air activity and its environmental impact before making any decisions.
