Barcelona International Airport

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Barcelona International Airport
(El Prat)
IATA: BCN - ICAO: LEBL
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA)
Serves Barcelona, Spain
Elevation AMSL 12 ft (3.8 m)
Coordinates 41°17′49″N, 2°04′02″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
7L/25R 12,281 3,743 Concrete
7R/25L 8,727 2,660 Asphalt
2/20 8.334 2,540 Asphalt
Interior view of the airport
Interior view of the airport

Barcelona International Airport (IATA: BCN, ICAO: LEBL), known as El Prat, is the main airport to serve Barcelona, Spain. It is located 10 km away from the centre of Barcelona, in El Prat de Llobregat.

"Barcelona El Prat" Airport is Spain's second largest airport behind Madrid Barajas International Airport. Main hub for Vueling Airlines and Clickair, it is also a focus city for Spanair, Air Europa and Iberia Airlines. The airport mainly serves domestic and European destinations, but some airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Delta Air Lines do offer destinations in Asia and the United States.

Currently Barcelona El Prat Airport is undergoing a huge expansion, with the construction of a new south terminal, expected to enter service in 2009.

In 2006, 30,008,152 passengers [1] used "Barcelona El Prat" airport.

The Barcelona-Madrid air shuttle service, known as the "Puente Aereo", is the busiest in the world.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

Barcelona's first airfield was located at el Remolar, and began operations in 1916. However, it did not have good expansion prospects, and the new airport at El Prat opened in 1918. The first plane was a Latecoere Salmson 300 which arrived from Toulouse. The airport was used as a base by the Spanish Navy's Zeppelin fleet. Scheduled commercial service began in 1927 with Iberia's service to Madrid.

In 1948, the first overseas service was operated by Pan American World Airways to New York, using a Lockheed Constellation. A new control tower was built in 1965 and the terminal was rebuilt in 1968. (It is presently the older wing of Terminal B.)

The airport underwent a major development in preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympics with the construction of a second terminal (designed by Ricardo Bofill).

Since then, significant increases in passenger numbers have urged the need for further expansion, know as "Plan Barcelona" [3] including a third terminal building (also designed by Ricardo Bofill) and control tower. An additional runway (07R/25L) has been built. Once these developments are complete, the airport will be capable of handling 55 million passengers annually (compared to 30 million passengers in 2006). The airport is slated to expand in area from 8.45 to 15.33 km² by 2007.

[edit] Transport

The airport is accessible by Renfe commuter train on the R10 line, which runs from Estació de França, with a major stop at Sants train station, providing transfer to the Barcelona Metro system. TMB public bus, line 46, every 25 minutes from Plaça Espanya. A scheduled private bus line, Aerobús, is also available from Plaça Catalunya, which stops at Sants and Plaça d'Espanya. Taxi stops are available at each terminal. The C-32B highway connects the airport to a main traffic interchange between Barcelona's Ronda de Dalt beltway and major highways. Parking capacity was expanded in 2003 and 2004.

As part of the major expansion above, a new train station will be built nearby, connecting the airport to the Spanish AVE network, and to both Line 2 and Line 9 of the Barcelona Metro.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

Cargo airline services are provided by:

[edit] References

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

[edit] External link

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../b/a/r/Barcelona_International_Airport_1daa.html"