The war in Iran has fully impacted the aviation sector. With the main Persian Gulf airports threatened and fuel prices soaring, airlines advise buying tickets for this summer with the maximum possible margin to avoid price increases. "The recommendation, as always, is that if you know you will travel this summer, buy as soon as possible," emphasized this Tuesday the president of the Association of Airlines (ALA), Javier Gándara.

Aena digs in. Aena president, Maurici Lucena, on Thursday once again shut the door on any real transfer or co-management of Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport and, at most, agreed to study for Catalonia an body similar to the Basque one: bilateral, yes, but only consultative and without decision-making capacity. The airport network will continue to be managed from the center, with unified criteria, and communities can be heard, but they do not decide.Aena defends that the integrated management of the Spanish airport network allows for the coordination of investments, tariffs, operation, and planning of the whole, and recalls that 49% of its capital is in private hands, so any transfer of management would open a political, regulatory, and probably judicial conflict.From the directive logic, the argument is understandable. From the territorial logic, it is not. Today, an airport can no longer be seen merely as a transport infrastructure. It is a first-rate economic lever. It orders tourist flows, connects business ecosystems, influences conferences, investment, talent, and international projection. And all of this impacts a specific territory, not an administrative abstraction. The airport belongs to a network, but its effects fall on a determined city, region, and economic model.Here Catalonia is entirely right to demand more than just being heard. If the Generalitat wants to guide its tourism policy, it needs to intervene on one of its main entry channels. A territorial policy for tourism or the promotion of certain international markets cannot be designed without impacting the infrastructure that conditions these movements.Centralized management can make sense in aspects such as security, air navigation, network technical coordination, or regulatory homogeneity. Nobody disputes this. But the economic impact of an airport should be decided by its regional government. This is where the Spanish model goes wrong.Barcelona Airport needs a strategic direction linked to the interests of Catalonia. The role that Barcelona should play as a business, trade fair, and scientific hub corresponds to Catalans.If a territory bears the urban, environmental, economic, and social costs of an airport, it must have the capacity to intervene in its orientation. Today's economic Europe increasingly operates through metropolitan regions, logistical hubs, and territorial production systems. Continuing to treat airports as a piece moved solely from Madrid reflects an old idea of power and an overly centralized vision of the economy.

Level's growth will have to wait. The long-haul airline had planned a year of expansion to consolidate its position at Barcelona airport, once it began to operate as an independent airline within the IAG group at the end of 2025, but it has ended up implementing drastic cuts to its offer from June, a measure that, for the moment, distances itself from the risk of fuel shortage that concerns many companies in the sector due to the conflict in the Middle East and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Hundreds of suitcases piled up haphazardly have been accumulating on the ground in recent days at El Prat airport, parked without any control near the carousels where travelers hope to find their belongings. This has been the result of the indefinite strike by Groundforce personnel, a company responsible for checking in luggage for airlines such as Air Europa, Air France, Lufthansa, or United Airlines.

The Middle East conflict has blown up the layovers that many travelers make on their way to Asian destinations such as Vietnam, South Korea, China, Thailand, or India. Airlines like Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, or Etihad Airways had become an essential pillar in the connection between Europe and Asia, with a very strong offering and convenient connections in their hubs in Dubai, Doha, or Abu Dhabi. The transit potentially affected by this new crisis amounts to 1.1 million annual passengers passing through Barcelona airport, according to a report prepared by the consultancy GPA to which ARA has had access.

While it doesn't move forward the expansion project At El Prat Airport, Aena is carrying out minor infrastructure improvements to optimize its use. On the runway closest to the sea, the airport operator is defining the necessary works to make more efficient use of the runway, such as repaving and new aircraft approaches. This package of works will represent an investment of over €110 million and is expected to begin in the winter of 2027 or 2028, depending on how quickly all the approval procedures are completed. The repaving of the short runway is a mandatory maintenance project that must be carried out every 20 to 25 years, as noted by Jaume Bauza, head of operations at Barcelona Airport. The current structure was built about 20 years ago and needs to be renovated, regardless of whether the runway extension is eventually carried out—one of the issues that has generated the most public opposition due to its impact on the Ricarda lagoon. All the pavement will have to be removed and replaced, a complex undertaking not seen at the airport for years. The same work was done on the long runway in 2016. This time, it will mean closing the short runway for about two months and will have a clear impact on the airport's operations, which will have to operate using only the long and cross runways. Furthermore, increasing the slope of the runway closest to the sea will remain pending, a measure contingent on the runway extension and agreed upon by Aena and the Port of Barcelona to ensure compatibility between the container terminals and their cranes and the airport's aircraft operations.

It has taken more than twenty years, but Aena is finally getting its act together to complete the environmental compensation measures it had outstanding from the previous expansion of Barcelona Airport, which involved the construction of Terminal T1. This comes in the wake of the infringement proceedings initiated by the European Commission. opened In 2021, Spain was sanctioned for not doing enough to conserve the Llobregat Delta following complaints filed by Depana. This presents a clear obstacle for the company chaired by Mauricio Lucena. can return The expansion of El Prat Airport will have new environmental impacts that have also sparked public opposition and require European approval.

Vueling has become the leading airline at Barcelona's expanding airport, and it aims to be even more so. The company has set a goal of transporting 60 million passengers by 2035. To achieve this, it plans to invest €5 billion, half of which will remain at El Prat Airport, where its main base is located. The budget will be primarily used to upgrade its fleet, switching to aircraft from the American manufacturer Boeing. "It's an ambitious and achievable project," stated Vueling's president and CEO, Carolina Martinoli. The airline, founded in Barcelona in 2004, wants to reach this goal without shifting its focus, which remains primarily on the Catalan capital. However, it is also working to strengthen domestic flights within Spain, where it has 11 bases, and its connectivity with Europe. Currently, it carries approximately 40 million passengers and employs 5,000 people. At El Prat Airport, Vueling is the airline with the largest market share, at 40%, followed at a considerable distance by Ryanair and, even further behind, by EasyJet and Wizz Air, all low-cost carriers. Of the more than 57 million passengers the airport recorded in 2025, 23 million travelers chose Vueling. The company, which merged with Clickair in 2009 and joined the IAG group in 2013, has 60 aircraft based in the Catalan capital flying to more than 100 destinations in 30 countries.

Month after month, Barcelona Airport has been registering unprecedented figures, maintaining the growth trend it has seen since the end of the pandemic. However, it closed 2025 with a record-breaking 57.5 million passengers. This marks the second consecutive year that the airport's maximum theoretical capacity has been exceeded, after having first reached that figure.more than 55 million travelers in 2024, one of the main reasons to launchthe expansion project, despite the social rejection of extending the third runway due to its environmental impact.

Norwegian's history in Barcelona has a date etched in its memory. The outbreak of the pandemic marked a turning point in the trajectory of an airline that had once ranked among the top 10 in terms of passengers in all of Spain and led traffic to the United States from El Prat Airport, with flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami, and Chicago. The Covid crisis completely paralyzed the tourism sector, especially the airline industry, leaving deep scars on this Norwegian low-cost carrier. Now, five years later, it is beginning to recover with new hires to respond to the reopening of destinations where the local market is starting to play a more prominent role.

It has been a long road, but finally, European air transport has managed to overcome the pandemic. It was the economic sector that suffered the greatest impact from the health emergency, not only because everything ground to a halt for months and some countries, like China, took years to reopen their borders, but also because of all the internal crises it triggered. Airlines went into debt to weather the storm and, at the same time, saw costs skyrocket and pilots disappear.

Long before reaching the usual security checkpoint, a long queue of passengers forms at the terminal doors, confused as to why they can't get in. Private security guards are checking tickets from everyone trying to enter El Prat Airport. This is a new measure that Aena has just implemented to better control who enters the airport throughout the day, according to ARA. On Friday morning, the busiest day of a long weekend with more than 3,600 flights scheduled at El Prat, access to Terminal 1 was only possible through one door on the departures level. There were bottlenecks, such as when passengers disembarked from the Aerobus and, nervously, realized they would still have to go through security. The other doors were closed, and it was necessary to go to the central entrance to get in. On other days of the week, the side door near the Aerobús stop was opened.

Airports and ports are two infrastructures that are not usually as close as they are in Barcelona, ​​and even less so with the scale they have in the Catalan capital. This proximity has caused more than a few headaches for decades, but now it seems that a new era of understanding is beginning, with the main disagreements, such as the coexistence of container cranes with the aircraft flying above them, being ironed out.

At an airport like Barcelona's, which is heading towards a new annual passenger record, any increase is a plus. Waiting to see if... gets ahead With the expansion project, El Prat is preparing to make operations more efficient, operations that will become increasingly complex as millions of passengers continue to be added year after year. This year alone, 2025, is expected to see a significant increase in passenger numbers. expects to close above 58 million travelers, compared to 55 million last year, which was the first time that It was overcome the theoretical capacity limit of the infrastructure.

After a record-breaking summer, El Prat Airport is preparing to continue its run this winter. Airlines are maintaining their commitment to Barcelona with more seats in the coming months, confirming their forecast for another record-breaking year. the theoretical capacity limit infrastructure. More passengers than ever before are still not limiting airline operations or causing complaints among users.

In its battle with Aena, Ryanair will also reduce its service to Barcelona during the winter season, breaking with the growth forecasts of other airlines. The cuts at El Prat are a consequence of the elimination of flights to regional Spanish airports and the Canary Islands, which the Irish airline announced after learning of the situation. The airport manager's intention to raise fees by 2026.

It's happening month after month. Barcelona Airport continues to grow and set new records. It does so after exceeding its theoretical capacity limit last year, when it recorded its first record. more than 55 million passengers, one of the main arguments for launching the El Prat expansion project, despite the social rejection that the extension of the third runway has aroused due to the environmental impacts. However, no airline has complained so far about having problems operating normally or because they are accumulating excessive delays, nor have passengers noticed it, with hot spots such as security checkpoints functioning better than previous years.

The project ofexpansion of El Prat Aena is stepping on the gas. Aena wants an airport with greater capacity, but also with more services. One of those it has never had is a hotel, unlike what happens in other cities around the world. This pending issue is beginning to be resolved with the first steps toward putting out to tender the construction and operation of an establishment in Terminal T2. All this, the same week that the airport manager presented a €700 million renovation of Terminal T1, where it will advance the façade by approximately 38 meters to provide more space for check-in and security checkpoints.

With more than 55 million passengers annually, El Prat tests the maximum capacity of its facilities daily and continues to push it to the limit. with the record growth it records month after month and the forecast is expected to exceed last year's figures. The airport needs more space, and will start with Terminal T1, where it will gain square footage by expanding the current building to accommodate check-in and security clearance in more spacious conditions.

Barcelona is gaining greater air connectivity with China. This was one of the main objectives of El Prat Airport following the shock of the pandemic and one of the reasons defended by Aena, the airport operator, for expanding its facilities. With the resumption of routes in recent years, more and more passengers are flying from Barcelona to the Asian giant, and so far this year the numbers recorded before the pandemic have almost doubled. Traffic to China has grown 64% between January and August compared to the same period last year. In just eight months, Barcelona Airport has seen 210,600 travelers coming from or going to China. During all of 2024, the number of passengers reached nearly 221,000. "It's a priority market," emphasizes Eva Valenzuela, director of El Prat Airport.