Barcelona–El Prat Airport

Barcelona–El Prat Airport Aeroport de Barcelona–El Prat
IATA: BCN – ICAO: LEBL
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	ENAIRE
Serves	Barcelona, Spain
Location	El Prat de Llobregat
Hub for	Air Nostrum Vueling Norwegian Air Shuttle Ryanair[1]
Focus city for	Air Europa easyJet Iberia
Elevation AMSL	14 ft / 4 m
Coordinates	41°17′49″N 002°04′42″E / 41.29694°N 2.07833°ECoordinates: 41°17′49″N 002°04′42″E / 41.29694°N 2.07833°E
Website	aena-aeropuertos.es
Map
BCN Location within Spain
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 07L/25R 3,552 11,653 Asphalt concrete 07R/25L 2,660 8,727 Asphalt concrete 02/20 2,528 8,293 Asphalt concrete
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 2015 39,711,276 Passenger change 14-15 5.7% Aircraft movements 288,878 Movements change 14-15 1.8%
Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA[2] Spanish AIP, AENA[3]

Barcelona–El Prat Airport^[4][5] (IATA: BCN, ICAO: LEBL) (Catalan: Aeroport de Barcelona – el Prat, Spanish: Aeropuerto de Barcelona-El Prat), simply known as Barcelona Airport, is an international airport located 12 km (7.5 mi) southwest^[6] of the centre of Barcelona, Spain, lying in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans, and Sant Boi.

It is the main airport of Catalonia, the second largest in Spain behind Madrid Barajas Airport and one of the busiest in the world. In 2015 Barcelona Airport handled a record 39.7 million passengers, up 5.7% from 2014.^[7][8] It is a main base for the main Spanish airlines like Vueling or Spanair before it suspended services on 27 January 2012,^[9] and a hub for Iberia Express or Air Europa, as well as the Irish low-cost giant Ryanair. The airport mainly serves domestic European destinations, also having flights to North America (United States of America and Canada), South America (Argentina, Brazil and Colombia), Middle East (Egypt, Israel, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar), Asia (China, Singapore and South Korea), and Africa (Senegal, Gambia, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Ghana and Cape Verde).

The Barcelona–Madrid air shuttle service, known as the "Puente Aéreo" (in Spanish), or "Pont Aeri" (in Catalan) literally "Air Bridge", was the world's busiest route until 2008, with the highest number of flight operations (971 per week) in 2007.^[10] The schedule has been reduced since February 2008, when a Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line was opened, covering the distance in 2 hours 30 minutes, and quickly became popular.^[11]

History

Barcelona's first airfield, located at El Remolar, began operations in 1916. However, it did not have good expansion prospects, so a new airport at El Prat opened in 1918. The first plane was a Latécoère Salmson 300 which arrived from Toulouse with final destination Casablanca. The airport was used as headquarters of the Aeroclub of Catalonia and the base for the Spanish Navy's Zeppelin fleet. Scheduled commercial service began in 1927 with an Iberia service to Madrid Cuatro Vientos Airport. This was Iberia's first route. During the time of the Second Spanish Republic El Prat was one of the bases of LAPE (Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas).^[12]

In 1948, a runway was built (now called runway 07-25); in the same year the first overseas service was operated by Pan American World Airways to New York City, using a Lockheed Constellation. Between 1948 and 1952, a second runway was constructed (runway 16–34), perpendicular to the previous, also taxiways were constructed and a terminal to accommodate passengers. In 1963, the airport reached one million passengers a year. A new control tower was built in 1965. In 1968, a new terminal was opened, which still exists and is in use as what is now Terminal 2B.^[13]

On 3 August 1970, Pan American World Airways inaugurated regular service between Barcelona, Lisbon and New York, operated by a Boeing 747. On 4 November of the same year, Iberia began the "Air-shuttle" service between Barcelona and Madrid-Barajas. A few years later, in 1976, a terminal was built specifically for Iberia's air-shuttle service and a terminal exclusively for cargo, an annexed mail service and an aircraft ramp for air cargo. In 1977, the airport handled over 5 million passengers annually.

From the late seventies to the early nineties, the airport was stalled in traffic and investments until the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona. El Prat underwent a major development consisting of the modernization and expansion of the existing terminal, which became known as Terminal B, and the construction of two further terminals flanking that, known as Terminals A and C respectively.^[13] The development included jetways for direct access to the aircraft. This reform was designed by architect Ricardo Bofill Levi.

In 1992, a new control tower was inaugurated also designed by Ricardo Bofill Levi, but this was replaced by another much needed control tower in 2006.

The new Terminal 1 was inaugurated on 16 June 2009, covering 545,000 m² (5,866,331 sq ft). 70% of today's flights operate from Terminal 1. The old Terminals A, B and C are now known as Terminals 2A, 2B and 2C.

Terminal 2B with artwork by Miró

Due to the strong drop in air traffic after 1999 and the crisis in the aviation sector in 2001 many charter operations from Girona and Reus were diverted to El Prat, which helped the airport to survive the crisis.

Barcelona Airport

On 1 February 2014, Barcelona–El Prat was the first Spanish airport to receive a daily flight with the Airbus A380, on the Emirates route to Dubai International Airport. Emirates also offers a second daily flight, but with Boeing 777 aircraft.

One of the main airlines that operates out of Barcelona, Norwegian Air Shuttle, has announced its intention of starting long-haul routes out of Barcelona–El Prat, from 2016, to destinations such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Orlando and Miami, operated by Boeing 787 aircraft.

Operations

Most of the traffic at Barcelona Airport is domestic and European, in which Vueling has an operational base. Intercontinental connections have not generated a significant amount of passenger traffic during the last years. In the early twenty-first century the airport passenger carried numbers and the number of operations increased significantly.

Low-cost airline traffic grew significantly, especially after the creation of operating bases by Vueling and Clickair at the airport. Vueling and Clickair merged in July 2009, operating under the Vueling name. Other low-cost airlines operate from the airport, including Ryanair, EasyJet, Norwegian Air Shuttle, EasyJet Switzerland, Wizz Air and Transavia.com. A new base was established at the airport in September 2010.

The airport has 3 runways, two parallel, nominated 07L/25R and 07R/25L (the latter opened in 2004), and a cross runway 02/20. There are two terminals: T2, which is the sum of the previous Terminals A, B and C, located on the north side of the airport and T1, on the west side, which opened on 16 June 2009. As of 2014 the two terminals had a combined total of 268 check-in counters and 64 boarding gates. Operations at the airport are restricted exclusively to Instrument flight rules (IFR) flights, except for sanitary, emergency and government VFR flights.

A plan for expansion (Plan Barcelona)^[14] was completed in 2009, adding a third terminal building (also designed by Ricardo Bofill) and control tower. An additional runway (07R/25L) was also built. The airport became capable of handling 55 million passengers annually (up from 33 million in 2007). The airport expanded in area from 8.45 to 15.33 square kilometres (3.26 to 5.92 sq mi). Further expansion was planned to be finished by 2012, with a new satellite terminal to raise capacity to 70 million passengers annually.

The airport is the subject of a political discussion over management and control between the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Spanish Government, which has involved AENA (airport manager) and various airlines, Iberia and Spanair mainly. Part of the controversy is about the benefits that the airport generates, which are used in maintenance and investments in other airports in the network of AENA and government investments in other economic areas.

Terminals

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 from the tarmac

Terminal 1 interior

A new Terminal 1 designed by Ricardo Bofill was inaugurated on 16 June 2009. It is the fifth largest in the world, and has an area of 548,000 m² (5,900,000 sq ft), and an aircraft ramp of 600,000 m² (6,500,000 sq ft).

The terminal handles both Schengen and non-Schengen flights. It is split into 5 Modules with Module A handling flights to Madrid, Module B handling Schengen flights, Module C handling Air Nostrum flights, Module D handling non-Schengen european flights and Module E handling non-Schengen non-European flights.

Its facilities include:

• 258 check-in counters
• 60 jetways (some are prepared for the A380, with double jetway)
• 15 baggage carousels (one of the new carousel is equivalent to 4 carousels in the old terminal) and
• 24,000 parking spaces, in addition to the 12,000 already in the terminal 2.

The forecast is that the airport will be able to handle 55 million passengers annually and will reach 90 operations an hour.

The extension of the airport with a total investment of €5.1 billion in the future will include a new satellite terminal and refurbishment of existing terminals. The civil engineering phase of the South Terminal has been made possible by a budget of €1 billion.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 is divided into three linked sections, known as Terminal 2A, 2B and 2C. Terminal 2B is the oldest part of the complex still in use, dating back to 1968. Terminals 2A and 2C were added in order to expand the airport capacity before the arrival of the 1992 Summer Olympics held in city.^[13] This expansion was also designed by Ricardo Bofill Levi.

Following the opening of Terminal 1 in 2009, Terminal 2 became almost empty until the airport authorities lowered landing fees to attract low-cost and regional carriers to fill the terminal. Whilst this has helped, the complex is nowhere near full capacity and Terminal 2A is currently unused. Terminal 2C is used only by EasyJet and EasyJet Switzerland flights, with flights to the UK using module M0, whilst flights to the rest of Europe use module M1. Terminal 2B is mostly used by Ryanair and others. And T2A is adapted for large airplanes, such as B777.. The terminal is also split into Modules, where flights to schengen destinations use Module U and flights to non schengen destinations use Modules W and Y.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Aegean Airlines	Athens	1
Aer Lingus	Dublin Seasonal: Cork	2B
Aeroflot	Moscow–Sheremetyevo	1
Aeroflot operated by Rossiya Airlines	St Petersburg Seasonal: Moscow-Vnukovo[15]	1
Aerolíneas Argentinas	Buenos Aires–Ezeiza	1
Air Algérie	Algiers, Oran	1
Air Arabia Maroc	Casablanca, Nador, Tangier	2B
Air Berlin	Düsseldorf	1
Air Canada Rouge	Toronto–Pearson Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau	1
Air China	Beijing–Capital, Vienna	1
Air Europa	Granada, Madrid, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife–North, Vigo Seasonal: Athens, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Rhodes (begins 20 June 2016), Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Venice-Marco Polo (begins 16 May 2016)[16]	1
Air France	Paris–Charles de Gaulle	1
Air Moldova	Chișinău	2B
Air Transat	Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau, Toronto–Pearson	2B
airBaltic	Riga	1
Alitalia	Milan–Linate, Rome–Fiumicino Seasonal: Alghero (begins 1 June 2016)[17]	1
Alitalia operated by Alitalia CityLiner	Milan–Linate	1
American Airlines	Miami, New York–JFK Seasonal: Charlotte, Philadelphia	1
Arkia	Seasonal: Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion	1
Atlantic Airways	Seasonal: Vágar	2B
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna	1
Aurigny Air Services	Seasonal: Guernsey (begins 23 July 2016)[18]	TBC
Avianca	Bogotá	1
Aviolet operated by Air Serbia	Seasonal charter: Belgrade	1
Azerbaijan Airlines	Seasonal: Baku (resumes 18 June 2016)[19]	1
BA Cityflyer	Seasonal charter: Edinburgh	1
Belavia	Minsk	2B
Blue Air	Bucharest, Iași	2B
British Airways	London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow	1
Brussels Airlines	Brussels	1
Bulgaria Air	Sofia	2B
Chalair Aviation	Seasonal: Limoges	2B
Croatia Airlines	Seasonal: Zagreb	1
Croatia Airlines operated by Trade Air	Zagreb (begins 26 May 2016)[20]	1
Czech Airlines	Prague	1
Delta Air Lines	New York–JFK Seasonal: Atlanta	1
easyJet	Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin–Schönefeld, Bordeaux, Bristol, Liverpool, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Southend, Lyon, Milan–Malpensa, Naples, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nice, Paris–Charles de Gaulle Seasonal: Belfast–International	2C
easyJet Switzerland	Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva	2C
EgyptAir	Cairo	1
El Al	Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion	1
Emirates	Dubai–International	1
Eurowings	Düsseldorf,[21] Vienna	2B
Finnair	Helsinki	1
Freebird Airlines	Seasonal: Istanbul–Atatürk	2B
Germanwings	Berlin–Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Stuttgart	2B
I-Fly	Moscow–Vnukovo	2B
Iberia	Madrid	1
Iberia Regional operated by Air Nostrum	Badajoz,[22] León Seasonal: Melilla	1
Icelandair	Seasonal: Reykjavík–Keflavík[23]	2B
Ikar Airlines	Seasonal: Moscow–Sheremetyevo	2B
Israir Airlines	Seasonal: Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion	1
Jet2.com	Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford Seasonal: Manchester	2B
Jetairfly	Antwerp, Ostend/Bruges	2B
KLM	Amsterdam	1
Korean Air	Seasonal charter: Seoul–Incheon[24]	1
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw–Chopin	1
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich	1
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine	Seasonal: Munich	1
Luxair	Luxembourg	2B
Monarch Airlines	Birmingham, London–Gatwick, Manchester Seasonal: Leeds/Bradford	2B
NIKI	Vienna	1
Nordwind Airlines	Seasonal: Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Mineralnye Vody, Monastir, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Moscow–Vnukovo, Murmansk, Nizhnekamsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Orenburg, Perm, Samara, Syktyvkar, Tyumen, Ufa, Volgograd, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg	2B
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Berlin–Schönefeld, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Edinburgh (begins 15 June 2016),[25] Fuerteventura,[26] Gothenburg, Gran Canaria, Helsinki, London–Gatwick, Manchester[25] Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda, Tenerife–North Seasonal: Bergen, Billund, Dubrovnik, Hamburg, Sandefjord, Stavanger, Trondheim, Warsaw–Chopin	2B
Pegasus Airlines	Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen	2B
Primera Air	Seasonal: Billund (begins 19 May 2016), Copenhagen (begins 15 May 2016), Reykjavík–Keflavík[27]	2B
Qatar Airways	Doha	1
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca Seasonal: Tangier	1
Royal Flight	Seasonal charter: St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg	2B
Royal Jordanian	Amman–Queen Alia	1
Ryanair	Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin–Schönefeld, Birmingham, Bologna, Brussels, Budapest, Cologne/Bonn, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Fes, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Hamburg, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Lanzarote, Liverpool, London–Stansted, Málaga, Manchester, Marrakesh, Menorca, Nador, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Prestwick,[28] Rome–Fiumicino, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Sofia (begins 1 November 2016), Stockholm–Skavsta, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South, Treviso, Turin, Valladolid, Vigo, Vilnius, Warsaw–Modlin	2B
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Oslo Seasonal: Bergen, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim	1
Singapore Airlines	São Paulo–Guarulhos, Singapore	1
SkyWork Airlines	Seasonal: Bern	2B
Sun D'Or operated by El Al	Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion	2B
Swiss International Air Lines	Geneva, Zürich	1
Swiss International Air Lines operated by Swiss Global Air Lines	Geneva	1
TAM Airlines	São Paulo–Guarulhos	1
TAP Portugal	Lisbon	1
TAP Portugal operated by Portugália	Lisbon[29]	1
TAROM	Bucharest	1
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium	Seasonal: Brussels	2B
Transavia	Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam/The Hague	2B
Transavia France	Paris–Orly	2B
Travel Service under the brand SmartWings	Seasonal: Prague	2B
Tunisair	Tunis	1
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul–Atatürk, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen	1
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev–Boryspil	1
United Airlines	Newark Seasonal: Washington–Dulles (begins 26 May 2016)[30]	1
Ural Airlines	Moscow–Domodedovo Seasonal: St Petersburg,[31] Yekaterinburg	2B
UTair Aviation	Seasonal: Yekaterinburg	2B
VIM Airlines	Seasonal: Moscow–Domodedovo	2B
Vueling	A Coruña, Accra, Algiers, Alicante, Almería, Amsterdam, Asturias, Athens, Banjul, Basel/Mulhouse, Bergen, Berlin–Tegel, Bilbao, Birmingham, Bologna, Bordeaux, Brindisi, Brussels, Casablanca, Catania, Constantine,[32] Copenhagen, Dakar, Djerba, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Fes, Florence, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Gran Canaria, Granada, Hamburg, Hannover, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Lanzarote, Lille, Lisbon, Liverpool,[33] London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow,[34] London–Luton,[35] Lyon, Madrid, Málaga, Manchester,[36] Marrakesh, Marseilles, Menorca, Milan–Malpensa, Moscow–Domodedovo, Munich, Nador, Nantes, Naples, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nice, Oran, Oslo, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Paris–Orly, Pisa, Porto, Prague, Rabat, Rennes, Rome–Fiumicino, Rotterdam/The Hague, San Sebastián, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Stockholm–Arlanda, Stuttgart, Tangier, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South, Toulouse, Turin, Valladolid, Venice, Vienna, Vigo, Warsaw–Chopin, Zürich Seasonal: Aalborg, Ancona, Bari, Bastia, Beirut,[37] Belfast–City,[38] Belgrade,[39] Brest, Bucharest, Budapest,[40] Cagliari,[41] Cardiff, Cluj-Napoca, Corfu, Dortmund, Dresden, Dubrovnik, Faro, Funchal, Genoa, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Heraklion, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Kiev–Zhulyany,[42] Kraków, Krasnodar,[43] La Palma, Larnaca, Leeds/Bradford,[44] Leipzig/Halle, Lourdes, Luxembourg, Maastricht/Aachen (begins 2 June 2016), Malta, Minsk, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Mykonos, Nuremberg, Olbia, Pamplona, Reykjavík–Keflavík, Riga (begins 24 June 2016),[45] St Petersburg, Sal,[46] Samara,[43] Santorini, Sofia, Split, Stavanger, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Trieste, Tunis, Verona, Vilnius (begins 28 June 2016),[45] Yerevan, Zadar, Zagreb	1
Windrose Airlines	Seasonal: Kiev–Boryspil	2B
Wizz Air	Bucharest, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Gdańsk, Katowice, Poznań, Riga, Skopje,[47] Sofia, Timişoara, Vilnius, Warsaw–Chopin	2B
WOW air	Seasonal: Reykjavík–Keflavík	2B
Yakutia Airlines	Seasonal: Moscow–Vnukovo	2B

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Atlas Air	Los Angeles
Cargolux	Hong Kong, Jeddah, Luxembourg
DHL Aviation	Vitoria
Emirates SkyCargo	Dubai–Al-Maktoum
FedEx Express	Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Lufthansa Cargo	Frankfurt
Swiftair	Madrid Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca
Swiss WorldCargo	Zürich
TNT Airways	Brussels, Liège
UPS Airlines	Cologne/Bonn, Valencia

Statistics

Iberia Airbus A321-211 (EC-ILP) & British Airways Airbus A320-211 (G-BUSK)

Air Arabia Maroc Airbus A320-214 (CN-NMB) & Vueling Airbus A320-216

Swiss International Air Lines Airbus A320-214 (HB-IJL)

Air Canada Boeing 767-33AER (C-GHPN)

Air Transat Airbus A310-304ET (C-GTSF)

Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-323 (N805NW)

Main airlines in Barcelona–El Prat 2015

Rank	Airline	Passengers	Services to
1	Vueling	14,727,381	Europe, Africa, Asia
2	Ryanair	5,698,773	Europe, Africa
3	easyJet	2,263,002	Europe
4	Lufthansa	1,360,959	Germany (Munich and Frankfurt)
5	Air Europa	1,107,128	Spain
6	Iberia	1,087,492	Spain
7	Norwegian Air Shuttle	891,267	Europe
8	British Airways	868,952	Great Britain (London)
9	Air France	738,483	France (Paris)
10	Swiss International Air Lines	593,964	Switzerland (Geneva and Zürich)
11	Germanwings	575,868	Germany
12	Wizz Air	575,563	Europe
13	easyJet Switzerland	574,451	Switzerland
14	KLM	558,928	The Netherlands (Amsterdam)
15	Transavia	449,050	The Netherlands
16	TAP Portugal	445,039	Portugal
17	Emirates	441,303	United Arab Emirates (Dubai)
18	Turkish Airlines	390,057	Turkey
19	Alitalia	361,967	Italy
20	Aeroflot	300,871	Russia (Moscow and Saint Petersburg)
21	Qatar Airways	297,757	Qatar (Doha)
22	American Airlines	287,114	United States of America
23	Monarch Airlines	271,230	Great Britain
23	Brussels Airlines	248,517	Belgium (Brussels)
25	Delta Airlines	226,165	United States of America

Busiest International Routes Apr 15-Mar 16^[48]

Rank	Airport	Passengers	Carriers
1	London Gatwick	1.364.620	British Airways, Easyjet, Monarch Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Vueling
2	Amsterdam Schiphol	1.241.129	KLM, Transavia, Vueling
3	Paris Charles de Gaulle	1.235.888	Air France, Easyjet, Vueling
4	Rome Fiumicino	1.227.988	Alitalia, Ryanair, Vueling
5	Frankfurt International	1.030.604	Lufthansa, Vueling
6	Paris Orly	982.125	Transavia, Vueling
7	Brussels National	841.374	Brussels Airlines, Ryanair, Vueling
8	Munich F.J.Strauss	766.960	Lufthansa, Vueling
9	London Heathrow	701.905	British Airways, Vueling
10	Milan Malpensa	660.880	Easyjet, Vueling
11	Zürich International	622.038	Swiss International Air Lines, Vueling
12	Geneva Cointrin	598.013	Easyjet Switzerland, Swiss International Air Lines, Vueling|
13	Lisbon	593.219	Portugalia, TAP Portugal, Vueling
14	London Stansted	507.870	Ryanair
15	Dublin	499.686	Aer Lingus, Ryanair, Vueling

Graphical volume of passenger traffic between 1963 and 2006

Passenger Volume Year Passengers % Year Passengers % 1963 1,000,000 - 2003 22,752,667 +6.6 1977 5,000,000 - 2004 24,558,138 +7.9 1990 9,205,000 - 2005 27,152,745 +10.6 1991 9,145,000 -0.7 2006 30,008,152 +10.5 1992 10,196,000 +11.5 2007 32,898,249 +9.6 1993 9,999,000 -2.0 2008 30,208,134 -8.2 1994 10,647,285 +6.5 2009 27,311,765 -9.4 1995 11,727,814 +10.1 2010 29,209,595 +6.5 1996 13,434,679 +14.6 2011 34,398,226 +17.8 1997 15,065,724 +12.1 2012 35,144,503 +2.2 1998 16,194,805 +7.3 2013 35,216,828 +0.2 1999 17,421,938 +7.6 2014 37,559,044 +6.7 2000 19,809,567 +13.8 2015 39,711,276 +5.7 2001 20,745,536 +4.7 2002 21,348,211 +2.9 Source: Aeroport de Barcelona, AENA.

Operations Volume Year Operations % 1999 233,609 - 2000 255,913 +9.5 2001 273,119 +6.3 2002 271,023 -0.8 2003 282,021 +4.1 2004 291,369 +3.3 2005 307,798 +5.6 2006 327,636 +6.4 2007 352,501 +7.6 2008 321,491 -8.8 2009 278,965 -13.3 2010 277,832 -0.4 2011 303,054 +9.1 2012 290,004 -4.3 2013 276,497 -4,7 2014 283,850 +2,7 2015 288,878 +1,8

Cargo Volume Year Tonnes % 1999 88,217 - 2000 88,269 +2.4 2001 81,882 -7.8 2002 75,905 -7.3 2003 70,118 -7.6 2004 84,985 +21.2 2005 90,446 +6.4 2006 93,404 +3.3 2007 96,770 +3.6 2008 104,329 +7.7 2009 89,813 -13.6 2010 104,279 +16.1 2011 96,572 -7.4 2012 96,522 -0.1 2013 100,288 +3.9 2014 102,692 +2.4 2015 117,219 +14.1

Ground transportation

Rail

Train

Terminal 2 has its own Rodalies Barcelona commuter train station on the line R2, which runs from the Maçanet-Massanes station every 30 minutes, with major stops at Barcelona Sants railway station and the fairly central Passeig de Gràcia railway station to provide transfer to the Barcelona Metro system, also in Clot station. Passengers for T1 must take a connecting bus from Terminal 2B to Terminal 1. As part of the major expansion above, a new shuttle train is going to be built from Terminal 1 to Barcelona Sants (connected with the high speed train, the AVE) and Passeig de Gràcia Stations is expected by April 2018.

Metro

Also this airport is linked to Barcelona by underground (metro) since February 12, 2016 ^[49][50] by Line 9 of the Barcelona Metro with a station in each terminal, the Aeroport T1 station situated directly underneath the airport terminal T1 and the Aeroport T2 station close to the Aeroport rail station at the terminal T2. The line connects with several Barcelona Metro lines to the city center.

Road

The C-32B highway connects the airport to a main traffic interchange between Barcelona's Ronda de Dalt beltway and major motorways. There is provision for parking cars at the airport, with about 24,000 parking spaces.

Bus

The Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) public bus line 46 runs from Plaça Espanya. The Aerobús offers direct transfers from T1 and T2 to the city center at Plaça Catalunya. Another company offers transfers from Barcelona Airport to nearest airports like Reus Airport or Girona-Costa Brava, provincial and national capitals and links with France or Andorra.

Taxi

Taxi ranks exist outside any of the main terminal exits Terminal 1 (T1) or Terminal 2.

Incidents and accidents

• On 21 October 1994 a Falcon 20 cargo aircraft made an emergency landing at the airport after suffering a malfunction in its landing gear; none of the three crewmembers were injured.
• On 19 February 1998, two people, the commander and the pilot died in an Ibertrans general aviation plane crash in the borough of Gavà shortly after taking off from El Prat.
• On 28 July 1998 a general aviation cargo plane carrying press from Mallorca crashed next to one of the fences surrounding the airport, killing two crew members and co-pilot.
• On 3 December 2010, during the Spanish air traffic controllers strike, Barcelona Airport remained inoperative when all Spanish air traffic controllers walked out in a coordinated wildcat strike. Following the walkout, the Spanish Government authorized the Spanish military to take over air traffic control operations.^[51] On the morning of 4 December, the government declared a 'State of Alert', ordering the controllers back to work. Shortly after the measure was implemented, controllers started returning to work and the strike was called off.^[52]

References

1. Ryanair apuesta por El Prat como ‘hub’ europeo
2. "Estadsticas - Aeropuertos Espaoles y Navegacin Area - aena-aeropuertos.es". Retrieved 1 June 2015.
3. Spanish AIP (AENA) Archived 7 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
4. "Orden FOM/1508/2011, de 18 de mayo, por la que se modifica la denominación oficial del Aeropuerto de Barcelona". BOE. (Spanish)
5. "Barcelona-El Prat Airport - Aena Aeropuertos". Aena-aeropuertos.es. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
6. EUROCONTROL basic. Eurocontrol.int. Retrieved on 4 October 2011.
7. "Spain’s airports enjoy record-breaking month of August". elpais.com. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
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Further reading

• Zunino, Eric (November 2004) "Barcelona Airport", Airline World, pp. 40–43.

External links

Media related to Barcelona Airport at Wikimedia Commons
Barcelona El Prat Airport travel guide from Wikivoyage

• Official website