Barcelona–El Prat Airport

Barcelona–El Prat Airport Aeroport de Barcelona–El Prat
IATA: BCN – ICAO: LEBL
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Aena
Serves	Barcelona, Spain
Location	El Prat de Llobregat
Hub for	Iberia Regional Vueling
Focus city for	Air Europa Iberia Norwegian Air Shuttle Ryanair
Elevation AMSL	14 ft / 4 m
Coordinates	41°17′49″N 002°04′42″E / 41.29694°N 2.07833°E / 41.29694; 2.07833Coordinates: 41°17′49″N 002°04′42″E / 41.29694°N 2.07833°E / 41.29694; 2.07833
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 (2014)
Passengers 2014 37,559,044 Passenger change 13-14 6.7% Aircraft movements 283,850 Movements change 13-14 2.7%
Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA[1] Spanish AIP, AENA[2]

Barcelona–El Prat Airport^[3][4] (IATA: BCN, ICAO: LEBL) (Catalan: Aeroport de Barcelona – el Prat, Spanish: Aeropuerto de Barcelona-El Prat), simply known as Barcelona Airport, is located 12 km (7.5 mi) southwest^[5] of the centre of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, lying in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans, and Sant Boi.

The airport is the second largest in Spain behind Madrid Barajas Airport and one of the busiest in the world, and is the main airport of Catalonia. It is a main base for Vueling, a hub for Iberia Regional and low-cost giant Ryanair as well as a focus city for Air Europa. The airport mainly serves domestic, European and North African destinations, also having flights to Middle East (Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Dubai, Qatar), Asia (China and Singapore), Latin America (Argentina, Brazil and Colombia), North America (United States and Canada) and Sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Gambia, Ghana and Cabo Verde). The Airport was a hub for Spanair before it suspended services on January 27, 2012.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.

In 2014 Barcelona Airport handled a record 37.5 million passengers, up 6.7% from 2013.^[8]

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).^[9]

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.^[10]

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.^[10] 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 June the 16th, 2009, covering 545,000 m². 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.

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.

On the 1st of 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 has also recently announced that they will also bring daily their Boeing 777 to follow the same route, so the Catalan airport can offer the route twice a day, one with each aircraft. It has been announced as well that in 2015, Transaero Airlines will bring daily their A380 to Barcelona for its routes to Moscow.

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 New York John F. Kennedy International Airport and/or Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, 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)^[11] 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

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).

Its facilities include:

• 258 check-in counters
• 60 jetways
• 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 Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992.^[10] This expansion was also designed by Ricardo Bofill Levi.

Following the opening of Terminal 1 in 2009, Terminal 2 became nearly 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 flights, with flights to the UK using module M0, whilst flights to the rest of Europe use module M1. Terminal 2B is used by a number of airlines.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Aegean Airlines	Athens	1
Aer Lingus	Dublin Seasonal: Cork	2B
Aeroflot	Moscow–Sheremetyevo	1
Aerolíneas Argentinas	Buenos Aires–Ezeiza	1
Air Algérie	Algiers	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	Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife–North Seasonal: Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Menorca	1
Air Europa operated by Swiftair	Badajoz	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	1
Alitalia operated by Alitalia CityLiner	Milan–Linate	1
American Airlines	Miami, New York–JFK	1
Arkia Israeli Airlines	Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion	1
Atlantic Airways	Seasonal: Vágar	2B
Austrian Airlines	Vienna	1
Avianca	Bogotá	1
Azerbaijan Airlines	Baku (begins 23 May 2015)[12]	2B
Belavia	Minsk–National	2B
Blue Air	Bucharest	2B
British Airways	London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow	1
British Airways operated by BA CityFlyer	Seasonal charter: Glasgow-International	1
Brussels Airlines	Brussels	1
Bulgaria Air	Sofia	2B
Chalair Aviation	Limoges	2B
Croatia Airlines	Seasonal: Zagreb	1
Czech Airlines	Prague	1
Delta Air Lines	New York–JFK Seasonal: Atlanta	1
EasyJet	Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast–International, Berlin–Schönefeld, Bristol, Liverpool, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Southend, Lyon, Milan–Malpensa, Newcastle, Nice, Paris–Charles de Gaulle	2C
EasyJet Switzerland	Geneva	2C
EgyptAir	Cairo	1
El Al	Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion	1
Emirates	Dubai–International	1
Eurowings	Düsseldorf (begins 27 March 2016)[13]	2B
Finnair	Helsinki	1
Freebird Airlines	Seasonal charter: Istanbul–Atatürk	2B
Germanwings	Berlin–Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Stuttgart	2B
Iberia	Madrid	1
Iberia Regional operated by Air Nostrum	Burgos (ends 4 May 2015), León (ends 30 September 2015), Salamanca (ends 27 September 2015), Valladolid Seasonal: Melilla	1
Icelandair	Seasonal: Reykjavík–Keflavík[14]	2B
Israir Airlines	Seasonal: Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion	1
I-Fly	Charter: Moscow–Vnukovo	2B
Jet2.com	Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford Seasonal: Manchester	2B
Jetairfly[15]	Antwerp, Ostend/Bruges	2B
KLM	Amsterdam	1
Korean Air	Seasonal charter: Seoul–Incheon[16]	1
Leon Airlines[17]	Burgos, León	2B
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich	1
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine	Seasonal: Munich	1
Luxair	Luxembourg	2B
Monarch Airlines	London–Gatwick, Manchester Seasonal: Birmingham, Leeds/Bradford	2B
NIKI	Vienna	1
Nordwind Airlines	Seasonal charter: Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Chelyabinsk, Kaliningrad, 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, Billund (begins 1 June 2015), Birmingham (begins 1 June 2015), Copenhagen, Gothenburg–Landvetter, Hamburg, Helsinki, London–Gatwick, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stavanger (begins 4 June 2015), Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim (begins 4 June 2015), Warsaw–Chopin Seasonal: Bergen, Dubrovnik (begins 3 June 2015), Sandefjord	2B
Orenair	Charter: Moscow–Domodedovo, Yekaterinburg	2B
Pegasus Airlines	Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen	2B
Primera Air	Seasonal: Reykjavík–Keflavík (begins 22 May 2015)[18]	2B
Qatar Airways	Doha	1
Rossiya	Saint Petersburg	2B
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca Seasonal: Tangier	1
Royal Jordanian	Amman–Queen Alia	1
Ryanair	Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin–Schönefeld (begins 27 October 2015), Birmingham, Bologna, Brussels, Budapest, Dublin, Edinburgh, Fes, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Liverpool, London–Stansted, Manchester, Nador, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Prestwick,[19] Rome–Fiumicino, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South, Treviso, Turin, Valladolid, Vilnius, Warsaw–Modlin Seasonal: Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn,[20] East Midlands, Jerez de la Frontera, Málaga, Menorca, Rome–Ciampino, Stockholm–Skavsta	2B
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Oslo–Gardermoen Seasonal: Bergen, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim	1
Singapore Airlines	São Paulo–Guarulhos, Singapore	1
SkyWork Airlines	Seasonal: Bern	2B
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines	Seasonal: Prague[21]	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	Basel/Mulhouse (ends 31 May 2015), Geneva	1
TAM Airlines	São Paulo–Guarulhos (begins 1 October 2015)[22]	1
TAP Portugal	Lisbon Seasonal: Funchal	1
TAP Portugal operated by Portugália	Lisbon, Porto	1
TAROM	Bucharest	1
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium	Charter: Brussels	2B
Transaero Airlines	Moscow–Domodedovo Seasonal: Moscow–Vnukovo	2B
Transavia	Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam/The Hague	2B
Transavia.com France	Paris–Orly	2B
Tunisair	Tunis	1
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul–Atatürk, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen (begins 25 May 2015)	1
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev–Boryspil	1
United Airlines	Newark	1
Ural Airlines	Seasonal: Yekaterinburg	2B
US Airways operated by American Airlines	Philadelphia Seasonal: Charlotte	1
UTair Aviation	Charter: Yekaterinburg	2B
VIM Airlines	Seasonal: Moscow–Domodedovo	2B
Vladivostok Air	Charter: Moscow–Vnukovo	2B
Vueling	A Coruña, Accra (begins 20 June 2015), Algiers, Alicante, Almería, Amsterdam, Asturias, Athens, Banjul, Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast–City,[23] Bergen, Berlin–Tegel, Bilbao, Birmingham (begins 1 June 2015), Bologna, Bordeaux, Brindisi, Brussels, Casablanca, Catania, Copenhagen, Dakar, Djerba (begins 20 June 2015), Dortmund, Dresden, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Fes, Florence, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Gran Canaria, Granada, Hamburg, Hannover, Helsinki, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Lanzarote, Leipzig/Halle, Lille, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Luxembourg, Lyon, Madrid, Málaga, Manchester (begins 19 June 2015),[24] Marrakesh, Marseilles, Menorca, Milan–Malpensa, Moscow–Domodedovo, Munich, Nador, Nantes, Naples, Nice, Nuremberg, Oran, Oslo–Gardermoen, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Paris–Orly, Pisa, Porto, Prague, Rabat (begins 20 June 2015), 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 (begins 22 June 2015), Bari, Bastia, Beirut,[25] Belgrade,[26] Brest, Bucharest, Budapest,[27] Cagliari,[28] Cardiff, Cluj-Napoca, Corfu (begins 20 June 2015), Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Faro (begins 20 June 2015), Funchal (begins 20 June 2015), Genoa, Gothenburg–Landvetter, Heraklion, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Kiev–Zhulyany,[29] Kos, Kraków, Krasnodar (begins 25 June 2015),[30] Samara (begins 27 June 2015),[30] Larnaca, Lourdes, Malta, Minsk–National, Moscow–Sheremetyevo (begins 3 June 2015), Mykonos, Olbia, Pamplona, Reykjavík–Keflavík, Rhodes, Saint Petersburg, Sal (begins 24 June 2015),[31] Santa Cruz de la Palma, Santorini, Sofia, Split, Stavanger, Strasbourg, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Trieste (begins 20 June 2015), Tunis, Verona, Yerevan, Zadar (begins 20 June 2015), Zagreb	1
Windrose Airlines	Seasonal: Kiev–Boryspil	2B
Wizz Air	Bucharest, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Gdańsk, Katowice, Riga, Skopje (begins 30 June 2015),[32] Sofia, Timişoara, Vilnius, Warsaw–Chopin Seasonal: Poznań[33]	2B
WOW air	Seasonal: Reykjavík–Keflavík	2B
Yakutia Airlines	Seasonal charter: Moscow–Vnukovo	2B

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Cargolux	Hong Kong, Jeddah, Luxembourg
DHL Aviation	Vitoria
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

Main airlines in Barcelona–El Prat 2014

Rank	Airline	Passengers	Services to
1	Vueling	13,703,747	Europe, Africa, Asia
2	Ryanair	4,760,426	Europe, Africa
3	easyJet	2,358,293	Europe
4	Lufthansa	1,421,438	Germany (Munich and Frankfurt)
5	Air Europa	1,205,736	Spain
6	Iberia	1,009,598	Air shuttle
7	Norwegian Air Shuttle	828,218	Europe (future: USA)
8	British Airways	827,650	Great Britain (London)
9	Air France	721,159	France (Paris)
10	Swiss International Air Lines	653,317	Switzerland (Geneva and Zürich)
11	KLM	575,127	The Netherlands (Amsterdam)
12	Germanwings	523,653	Germany
13	easyJet Switzerland	514,019	Switzerland
14	Wizz Air	505,595	Europe
15	Transavia	449,711	Holland
16	TAP Portugal	437,355	Portugal
17	Alitalia	331,230	Italy
18	Emirates	321,258	United Arab Emirates (Dubai)
19	Turkish Airlines	320,523	Turkey
20	Aeroflot	288,546	Russia (Moscow and Saint Petersbourg)
21	Monarch Airlines	272,457	Great Britain
22	American Airlines	266,583	United States of America
23	Brussels Airlines	252,734	Belgium (Brussels)
24	Qatar Airways	233,039	Qatar (Doha)
25	Transaero Airlines	224,585	Russia

Busiest European Routes Feb 14-Jan 15^[34]

Rank	Airport	Passengers	Carriers
1	London Gatwick	1.273.782	British Airways, Easyjet, Monarch Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Vueling
2	Amsterdam Schiphol	1.218.786	KLM, Transavia, Vueling
3	Paris Charles de Gaulle	1.151.141	Air France, Easyjet, Vueling
4	Rome Fiumicino	1.025.767	Alitalia, Ryanair, Vueling
5	Frankfurt International	1.016.829	Lufthansa, Vueling
6	Paris Orly	868.529	Transavia, Vueling
7	Brussels National	839.626	Brussels Airlines, Ryanair, Vueling
8	Munich F.J.Strauss	734.701	Lufthansa, Vueling
9	Milan Malpensa	624.119	Easyjet, Vueling
10	London Heathrow	613.674	British Airways
11	Zürich International	588.780	Swiss International Airlines, Vueling
12	Lisbon	568.502	Portugalia, TAP Portugal, Vueling
13	Moscow Domodedovo	542.133	Transaero Airlines, Vueling
14	Geneva Cointrin	478.488	Easyjet Switzerland, Swiss International Airlines
15	Vienna	411.988	Austrian Airlines, Niki, Vueling

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

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

Ground transportation

Rail

Terminal 2 has its own Rodalies Barcelona commuter train station on the line , 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 railway station will be built in Terminal 1, connecting the airport to the Spanish AVE network, and Line 9 of the Barcelona Metro.

Road

The Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) public bus line 46 runs from Plaça Espanya. A scheduled private bus line (Aerobús) from Plaça Catalunya, stops at Urgell 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 motorways.

BusPlana Official Transfer from Barcelona Airport to Costa Dorada (Salou, Cambrils, La Pineda, PortAventura, Tarragona, Reus...), the bus stop is in Terminal 1.

There is provision for parking cars at the airport, with about 24,000 parking spaces.

Taxi from Barcelona Airport

Taxi ranks exist outside any of the main terminal exits Terminal 1 (T1) or Terminal 2 (and of the 3 buildings of Terminal 2 - T2A, T2B or T2C). Taxis operate continuously.

The journey to the city centre will take between 25 to 40 minutes depending on road conditions. If you are travelling from Terminal 1 rather than Terminal 2, this will add an extra 4 km to your journey and take approximately 5 minutes more. Children under the age of 12 must be seated in the back seat of the car and supervised so that they do not distract the driver.

Local companies offer pre-booked services.

Taxi Fare
Expect to pay (by normal traffic conditions in a workday) around €30.00 for the journey into the centre from T2 and €40.00 for your journey from T1. There will also be an additional surcharge charge for each bag you're carrying and additional surcharge for Barcelona Cruise Port destination. You'll find the rates displayed inside the cab. Final price will depend on time and road conditions.

All official Barcelona taxis are black and yellow.

Taxi to Barcelona Airport

The taxi journey from Barcelona city centre to Barcelona airport takes about 25–40 minutes. Barcelona taxi cost from the Barcelona airport will be between 30 and 40 euros depending on your departure point, the traffic and the time of day.

In Barcelona and the municipalities of the metropolitan area, the most common ways to catch a cab in the street is to go to one of the taxi network stops which all of the municipalities have, or to use a hand signal to hail a cab when an empty one is approaching. At the stops, the customer must take the first vehicle in the order of departure at the stop. Circulating taxi drivers cannot pick up passengers within a 50-metre radius of a stop. The most suitable places to hail a cab in the street are the corners. Users must bear in mind that the taxi driver cannot make abrupt manoeuvres or stop the car in places that represent a hazard for traffic circulation.

The telephone is another effective means of calling a cab. You may request a taxi by calling one of the 20 taxi radio dispatch centres that operate in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Many of these centres have a fleet management system that allows them to send a taxi to the place requested by the user. The assigned taxi number is communicated by telephone call or SMS message.

Lost and found For Lost and Found notifications you can call to IMT (Institut Metropolità del Taxi) at 902 101 564. More informations at IMT website

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.^[35] On the morning of December 4, 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.^[36]

References

Further reading

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

External links

Media related to Barcelona Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website

Airports in Spain Major international Alicante Barcelona–El Prat Gran Canaria Madrid–Barajas Málaga Palma de Mallorca Tenerife South Minor international A Coruña Almería Asturias Bilbao Fuerteventura Girona Granada Ibiza Jerez La Palma Lanzarote Lleida Menorca Murcia–San Javier Reus Santander Santiago de Compostela Seville Tenerife North Valencia Valladolid Vigo Zaragoza Domestic Algeciras Heliport Badajoz Burgos Ceuta Heliport El Hierro La Gomera León Logroño Melilla Pamplona Salamanca San Sebastián Unscheduled Albacete Castellón Castellón–Costa Azahar Ciudad Real Córdoba Huesca La Seu d'Urgell Madrid–Cuatro Vientos Madrid–Torrejón Murcia–Corvera Palma de Mallorca–Son Bonet Sabadell Teruel Vitoria

Transport in Barcelona Organisations Autoritat del Transport Metropolità Baixbus Entitat del Transport (AMB) Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya TRAM Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona Public transport Bus Barcelona Nord bus station List of bus routes in Barcelona Commuter rail Barcelona–Vallès Line S1 S2 S5 S55 Llobregat–Anoia Line Rodalies Barcelona – Rodalies de Catalunya Line 1 2 3 4 7 8 10 Metro  Line 1   Line 2   Line 3   Line 4   Line 5   Line 6   Line 7   Line 8   Line 9   Line 10   Line 11  Tram Trambaix Trambesòs Tramvia Blau Other Bicing Funicular de Montjuïc Funicular del Tibidabo Funicular de Vallvidrera Montjuïc Cable Car Port Vell Aerial Tramway Major stations Arc de Triomf Estació de França Passeig de Gràcia La Sagrera-Meridiana Plaça de Catalunya Plaça d'Espanya Provença/Diagonal Sants Airports Barcelona–El Prat Airport General aviation: Sabadell Airport Motorways Access A-2 B-21 B-22 B-23 C-16 C-17 C-31 C-32 C-33 C-58 Rondes Ronda de Dalt (B-20) Ronda Litoral (B-10) Ronda del Mig