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Emirates airline is bringing the airplane with the highest passenger capacity in the world to El Prat airport in the Catalan capital. Specifically, the plane will pass through Barcelona on the 25^th of June and on the 16^th, 29^th, and 31^st of July. It can hold 615 passengers, of which 557 will go in economy and 58 will be sat in business class, stated the CEO of Emirates in Spain, Fernando Suárez de Góngora, during lunch with the media on Wednesday. The airplane, which is a modified (to be able to hold as many passengers as possible) A-380, will use Barcelona’s international tourism as its asset: “it is a promising sign, and we are convinced it will be filled completely”, stated Góngora. Although it has apparently been “a real challenge”, according to the CEO, to completely fill the flights, Barcelona is becoming a more popular tourist destination in Asia in general and “in the Middle East in particular”. 

At ten past twelve this Thursday morning, an Airbus A380 belonging to Emirates has landed at the first terminal of Barcelona’s El Prat Airport. It is the very first of such aircrafts, the largest in the world, to operate on a regular route in Spain. The A380 will allow Emirates to expand by 40% - with 2,200 additional seats per week - the current daily number of passengers flying between Barcelona and Dubai, a route which was launched two years ago. Emirates has decided to introduce the A380 in Barcelona due to increasing demands as well as to reinforce the company's commitment to an “important market for Europe” according to Emirates’ Vice-President of Commercial Operations in Europe, Thierry Aucoc.

The main Catalan airport is increasing the number of intercontinental flights in terms of both destination and frequency, one of the strategic drives implementing its expansion plan. Barcelona’s Airport already has 31% of the intercontinental traffic in Spain, despite the fact that the partially state-owned Iberia’s international flights abandoned the Catalan airport years ago in favour of Madrid Barajas. Barcelona Airport has attracted other airlines, such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, and has specialised in connections to the Middle East and Asia, although it also has flights to the Americas. Last week, there was a press release that stated that 35.15 million passengers went through Barcelona Airport in 2012.

UAE’s airline Emirates has announced it will link the Catalan capital with its main operations base in the Persian Gulf, Dubai. Emirates has emphasised that the new service will ease the access of Catalan companies to Asian markets and vice-versa as it will facilitate and increase the arrival of foreign investors and tourists coming from Asia to Barcelona.

Emirates have announced they will link Barcelona with Dubai with a daily flight commencing in July. Furthermore, Spanair have announced connections with Beirut and Moscow, as well as more flights with Germany, France, Croatia and Serbia.