Catalan president to speed up expansion of Barcelona airport

Catalan president Salvador Illa will speed up efforts to unblock the long-stalled expansion of Barcelona's airport.

In an interview with public broadcaster TV3, the Socialist leader announced that he would "put to work" the technical committee set up in January between the Spanish and Catalan governments.

"Resolving the situation is crucial for connectivity and for the Catalan economy. We cannot allow it to be blocked and we must address it directly," he said.

Illa will give the committee three or four months to resolve, from a technical point of view, the best option for the airport to increase international flights.

Although he did not reveal any specific proposals, Illa assured that he would work with "maximum respect for the environment."

Parties set boundaries

To pass an expansion of the airport, Illa needs the support of pro-independence Esquerra and the left-wing Comuns, the two parties that supported his bid for the presidency.

Esquerra spokesperson Marta Vilalta warned Illa that their agreement included that the expansion be respectful of the environment, something that would be "incompatible" with expanding the runway.

"For us, it is a red line to confuse the modernization of the airport with the extension of the runway, which would damage the natural spaces," she said.

Left-wing Comuns also weighed in. Spain's culture minister, Ernest Urtasun, warned that they "will never support the further expansion of airports."

"We need to decarbonize the European economy, and this happens for the reduction of polluting transport activities," he said.

The pro-independence left-wing party CUP has also commented on the set-up of the technical comittee and the expansion of the airport: "It will cause more emissions and help on the destruction of natural spaces," Laia Estrada, the spokesperson, mentioned.

"In addition, the expansion will boost mass tourism in Catalonia," she said. "The transportation projects should be focused on ensuring that trains work properly and on time," Estrada concluded.

Airport expansion plans 

The future of Barcelona's El Prat airport has been a topic of debate for years, which intensified in 2021.

Although most parties agree that the airport should become an intercontinental hub in one form or another, they disagree on how this should be done.

While some advocate expanding the airport's facilities, others want to improve its competitiveness without further construction.

At the heart of the debate is a plan to extend runway 24L/06R, the one closest to the sea, by 500 meters, and any work on it would affect the Ricarda Natural Park lagoon.

This natural area has special EU protection as an important habitat for biodiversity and any plans would have to be approved at European level.

To compensate, Aena, the Spanish airport authority, proposes to reforest about 280 hectares of land on the opposite side of the airport from where the Ricarda lagoon is located.

To learn more about the expansion plans, have a listen at this episode of our podcast Filling the Sink from 2021.