About Barcelona
Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport is an international airport serving Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, Spain. It is the second busiest airport in Spain and the sixth busiest in Europe. The airport is a hub for Vueling and Level, and a focus city for Air Europa and Iberia.
The airport has two terminals: the older Terminal 2 and the massive, modern Terminal 1 designed by Ricardo Bofill, which opened in 2009. Terminal 1 is shaped like a sword and is flooded with natural light through its glass walls. It handles the majority of the airport's traffic. The airport is located 12 km (7.5 mi) southwest of the centre of Barcelona.
Barcelona-El Prat is known for its "air bridge" (Pont Aeri) service to Madrid, which was the world's busiest air route until 2008. The airport features three runways, including a cross runway used for night operations to minimize noise over nearby residents. Its proximity to the sea creates a scenic approach for landing aircraft.
El Prat's official designation was extended in 2019 to honour Josep Tarradellas, the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia who returned from 38 years of exile in October 1977 with the memorable balcony address "Ciutadans de Catalunya, ja sóc aquí". The renaming ceremony coincided with the airport's re-branding and required updating over 4,600 signs across the two terminals. The site sits inside a Special Protection Area designated under the EU Birds Directive because of the surrounding Llobregat Delta wetlands, meaning any runway extension must be balanced with the creation of compensatory habitat—a legal constraint that has effectively frozen the master plan for a fourth runway since 2001. Its management falls to AENA, the Spanish state airport operator that was partially privatised in 2015 in what was then Europe's largest infrastructure IPO.