Catalan civil society insists on calling for a debate on the future of El Prat airport. This time, Barcelona Global has put this urgency on the table, and it has done so by presenting an alternative proposal to Aena’s initial project to try to unravel the transformation of the infrastructure.
After a seven-month study with aeronautical engineers, technicians, environmentalists, ornithologists and ecologists (among other specialists), the entity has analyzed different options to increase intercontinental flights, but with minimal impact on the environment and without increasing the limit total number of operations per hour established in the airport’s current master plan (90 per hour). His bet is to extend the third runway (the one next to the sea and used for takeoffs) by 350 meters. In this way, the La Ricarda lagoon would be preserved, stressed this Tuesday Maite Barrera, president of Barcelona Global.
Another 300 meters of unpaved security (clearway) would be added to the paved runway to facilitate takeoffs of large-fuselage planes (wide body), those operated by airlines to fly between continents. These decisions would add a total paved surface of 3,310 meters.
The original Aena project proposed extending the runway by 500 meters in total. However, in both cases the protected area of ??the Natura 2000 Network would be impacted, with which the 350-meter route would also need the approval of Brussels.
“Barcelona already has a very good air network with the rest of Europe but the intercontinental network needs to be strengthened,” Barrera pointed out. Connecting the capital of Catalonia with the world’s main economic and socio-cultural centers is a priority for the entity, “to attract high-impact companies and investments”, they have defended. El Prat has almost 50 intercontinental destinations this summer season, which brings it closer to its record, but frequencies and long radio are still lacking, especially with the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Latin America.
“We don’t want to increase the airport’s capacity, but rather bet on a different type of flight”, agreed Barrera, Mercè Conesa (general director of Barcelona Global), Sergi Ferrer-Salat (businessman and ecosocial activist) and Josep Tabernero (director of the institute of oncology of Vall d’Hebron).
The first action they propose is to apply the environmental compensations still pending in the airport area and which are the responsibility of Aena. Once this phase is completed, La Ricarda should be “regenerated”, an ecosystem that is already “very stressed and requires action to maintain it”, maintains the association. After this, the track would be lengthened, without reaching the lagoon.
Barcelona Global also proposes reaching agreements with the airlines so that part of the short flights with a final destination in Catalonia are transferred to the airports of Reus and Girona through. In this way, they consider, the capacity of long-haul flights could be increased by maintaining the use of the runways in a segregated way (one for landing and another for taking off), as well as avoiding greater noise pollution in neighboring towns. Nor would it be necessary, they maintain, to increase the passenger capacity per year (now the limit is at 55 million, an amount that was touched in 2019 and that this 2023 will be close again).
“There is an urgency for this debate to be addressed and we cannot delay it any longer, the current situation is not a solution,” they have insisted. His proposal does not include a satellite terminal, which could be built a posteriori depending on the needs.
The association will present its conclusions to the Government of the Generalitat in the coming days (it has already spoken with the mayor of Barcelona, ??Jaume Collboni) and plans to also hold meetings with other administrations, including the central government, municipalities involved and Aena. In any case, they clarify that their alternative is a starting point to promote the debate and that it should be a commission of experts that decides the technical solution. Of course, they warn that not extending the runway “is not an option” if you want to increase long-haul flights.
