The expansion of Barcelona Airport announced last week has been accompanied by a flood of information and debate that has caused us to lose sight of certain elements that cannot be forgotten. The ones I have detected are these:
1. Is it necessary to have an airport that can handle very long-haul intercontinental flights? The answer is yes. Promoting the future options of the Barcelona and Catalan economies requires the ability to handle long-haul flights. The bulk of business activity has shifted so far to the Pacific and Indian Oceans that not participating is certifying our renunciation of improvements in prosperity for the future.
2. Is it necessary to have an airport that can handle very long-haul intercontinental flights? hub for connecting flights? I don't think so, because we don't have the space to multiply runways and terminals, which is essential in the hubs, and because we don't have any airlines that are committed to Barcelona with the will to facilitate connections between flights. If there were any company that was committed to transforming Barcelona airport into a hub A sufficiently ambitious plan could only be to create an island off the coast, like in Osaka.
3. Do we need a long runway? We must remember that we have one, which cannot be used because the local residents have won every lawsuit they have filed against Aena. Couldn't their attitude be softened with sonic protection measures? I'm sure it could. In fact, something must have been done, if it turns out that the long runway is used for takeoffs during certain hours of the day and at specific times, and routinely for landings.
4. If the long runway were not used, it could be shortened and re-naturalized to compensate for the lengthening of the short runway. Since it is not even mentioned, it can be deduced that it is used enough to avoid wasting it. The question returns: is it inevitable to lengthen the current runway closest to the sea?
5. There's talk of billions of euros in investment. Will Barcelona and Catalonia benefit from this construction effort? It doesn't seem so. Barcelona and Palma will spend it for the greater glory of Madrid airport and then distribute it to all the others, which are running at a loss. This is an increase in the fiscal deficit in action.
8. We accept that increasing the number of very long-distance lines is essential for the economic and business development of Catalonia. But where will all the qualified personnel expected to be hired by new business investments, or all the entrepreneurs of the new knowledge economy and their families, live?
9. A radical improvement in the commuter rail system is essential to accommodate and provide housing for these new hires. It remains the greatest weakness of the Barcelona region's economy and the well-being of its citizens. Furthermore, it is the most unfulfilled promise by the Spanish governments, even by those who most promise to do so.
10. And what will happen to the mass tourism model we'd like to resize? We can't fool ourselves: the airport expansion will encourage it.
To conclude: it's fine to focus on very long-haul connections, but the proposal is very similar, with all the flaws, virtues, and distortions, to that of 2021. The only thing that changes is a new promise to compensate for the impact on protected areas, given that it has been in place for more than twenty years. The skepticism of many.
