The driving force behind the proposal to build a fourth runway over the sea in El Prat, including the engineer Joaquim Coello and the economists Andreu Mas-Colell and Guillem López Casasnovas, considers that Aena’s initial project for the airport ” it is partial and does not solve the needs” of the latter.
“Barcelona needs two 3,500-meter runways, as all airports with intercontinental flights have,” they stressed during a ceremony held this Tuesday at the Col legi d’Economistes in Barcelona. Hence, they have put this alternative option to the extension of the third track on the table, they added. “We presented it to the Generalitat to have a different element of debate than that of Aena”, stated López Casasnovas.
However, they stressed that their proposal is a starting point and that it is the Government of the Generalitat that has to lead the debate on the future of the airport. “The Generalitat has to lead a discussion and has to negotiate, it has to lead this issue,” Mas-Colell stressed.
Both the president Pere Aragonès and the Regional Minister for Territory, Juli Fernàndez, are aware of this study but, for the moment, it is not among their priority solutions for the airport. However, Aragonès undertook to study all possible options to improve the capacity of El Prat and long-haul flights. Nor was the PSC a priori in favor of the track over the sea.
However, the promoting group defended the “viability” of its proposal and its “environmental sustainability”. In the coming days they will meet with political groups to explain it – today they plan to present it to JxCat and later to the PSC. Coello also explained that this proposal “is not known to Foment del Treball, it is independent”. The employers’ association chaired by Josep Sánchez Llibre activated a study commission on the airport seven months ago.
Aena once ruled out a runway over the sea considering that its environmental impact would be greater, something that was also discussed during the negotiation of the airport expansion in 2021, before the pact between the Generalitat and the central government derailed. “Our proposal is based on a new technology with less impact,” said Coello and Mas-Colell in this regard. The coastal zone is also included in the Natura 2000 network, so any action would need the approval of the EU.