The expansion of El Prat will culminate in less than ten years, insists Aena

BarcelonaThe expansion of Barcelona airport will be a reality in less than ten years. "By 2036 everything will be finished and in operation," assured the president of Aena, Maurici Lucena, this Friday at the Association of Economists of Catalonia (CEC). In fact, Lucena has gone a step further and has opened the door to bringing forward some investments that, for the moment, are planned for the 2032-36 period.

The company's investment planning for the next five years –included in DORA III– includes the remodeling of the El Prat terminals, while, right now, the controversial third runway falls under DORA IV. Although before getting into the subject Lucena warned that he would not make "any announcement" during the intervention because he is subject to electoral laws –the State owns 51% of the company–, he wished that "hopefully it will be possible, as sometimes happens, to bring forward schedules and investments," as has happened in actions at other Spanish airports.

For the umpteenth time, the head of Aena has defended tooth and nail that the protected natural spaces surrounding the airport will be "better" than they are now after the expansion. He has again criticized "the staunch conservationist of natural spaces, because many things would not have changed," and has distinguished him from those who are in favor of "touching them, but always with the indisputable goal of improving them."

Lucena has predicted that Barcelona airport will exceed 60 million passengers this year, even though theory places the maximum capacity threshold at 55 million. The top executive of Aena has linked the saturation of the Barcelona infrastructure with the growth in demand in Girona and Reus. In his view, they are facilities with "excess capacity" to absorb passengers from the Catalan capital, and have their future guaranteed by the importance of the territories they serve and by their proximity to the capital.

Without individual accounts

On the eve of the general elections, Lucena considered that the Spanish airport model is “very stable and works very well”, and recalled that it is “very firmly anchored in regulations”, among others, with the attribution of exclusive powers to the State in the Spanish Constitution. In fact, he took the opportunity to boast about the fact that Aena –which handles a million passengers a day around the world– “is considered not only the largest airport company in the world, but also the best”.

Lucena has admitted that "probably more than half" of the 46 airports the company has in Spain "would individually be loss-making under a simple definition". "Financially it is of no importance at all", he insisted, because the "monstrous efficiencies of the large airports and the coordination mechanisms of the network" are much more relevant.

In fact, the individual accounts for each one do not exist because, legally, a "network" model has been established. The president of Aena has resorted to arguments from economic theory such as economies of scale to argue how Aena's "efficiency" – in the economic sphere, but also regarding specific actions – is sustained by the joint operation of all its airports. "It is impossible for a technical blackout like the one that happened at Heathrow to also happen at Aena, not because we are smarter, but because we have airports in coordination", he illustrated.