The stoppage of the expansion of El Prat Airport has put all economic and political sectors on guard. of Catalonia, as reported by the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, a few days ago, led to the cancellation of a project that was forced to invade the protected natural area of La Ricarda to prevent the Catalan infrastructure from falling behind its European competitors. Aena, in charge of developing the project, ruled out up to five alternative options for this expansion plan during the first months of work, considering that they would have a high impact on the territory and the population, and finally opted for the proposal that now remains in the drawer.
Specifically, as can be seen in the attached plans, the company headed by Maurici Lucena chose to present several alternatives that included the creation of new runways that would allow the goal of operating with a capacity of 90 operations per hour to be achieved. To this end, two main options were proposed, the modification of the current operating mode of the runways (mixed mode or segregated mode with a change in the role of runways) or the provision of a runway with sufficient length for the operation of widebody aircraft, that is, those that have a double aisle and that are mainly used for long-haul flights. This last option required the expansion of one of the current tracks or the construction of a new one. With this idea, several options for action were proposed.
The first of these consisted of maintaining the existing configuration and adding operational improvements in mixed mode, or changes in the role of runways in segregated mode, allowing the objective of 90 operations per hour to be achieved. From the point of view of the impact on protected areas, these alternatives would be the most appropriate, since the current limit of the airport service area is maintained. On the other hand, it would increase the noise and, as a consequence, the inconvenience towards the neighbors of the adjoining areas. Therefore, a second option was proposed, to extend runway 07R/25L in a segregated way, occupying the La Ricarda area. Despite the fact that at an environmental level this solution was not the most appropriate, the one (towards Barcelona) is the one that generates less noise, and improves the current situation, by allowing turns to the sea to take place earlier for most of the operations takeoff, achieving 90 maneuvers per hour.
Additionally, other options were proposed, such as the construction of a new runway to the South in a segregated mode or in an independent mixed mode, or the creation of another to the North in both formats. All of them, according to Aena, can provide a capacity even higher than the 90 operations per hour sought by the expansion, but they have been ruled out due to their “high impact on the territory”.
Finally, the option chosen was the second one, which, as seen in the map, invaded the protected area of La Ricarda. On the other hand, according to Aena sources, both the central government and the Generalitat and the airport manager agreed that this was the best option, at least until the meeting on September 3, when all parties gave their approval to the project. . This option allows the airport to plan a greater number of long-haul flights, increase the efficiency and performance of the use of parallel runways and reduce the noise impact of takeoffs, reduce the taxiing time for T2 takeoffs, with the corresponding savings in fuel and polluting emissions thanks to the by-pass that would be built.
To compensate for the damage to the protected area, Aena proposed different actions in order to maintain the habitats and populations of the species present in the space in a favorable state of conservation. In this sense, he proposed to increase the land under protection by 280.8 hectares and restore other parts, with special protection for different species present in the territory. All these measures, according to the airport operator, would not only improve the current situation of the Natura Network in the area, but would also significantly expand it, “becoming a benchmark for sustainability”.
Be that as it may, in recent months Aena and Enaire have already implemented some measures to maximize the capacity of El Prat with the current technical characteristics. In this regard, last February the minimum separation between aircraft was reduced from 3 nautical miles to 2.5 as long as certain safety measures are met, such as the runway being dry and visibility equal to or greater than 10 kilometers. . The Master Plan that must be approved in the future must guarantee the possibility of maintaining the average aircraft runway occupation time of less than or equal to 50 seconds, facilitating rapid take-off.
Price increase
The president of Aena, Maurici Lucena, predicted yesterday that the Barcelona-El Prat airport will not be expanded, which will cause a rise in the prices of the flights of the airlines that operate from there. “Barcelona will reach a level close to saturation in a few years and will have to face competition from other airports such as Milan, Rome and Vienna, and they must be happy because they have one less competitor,” he said in a interview in SER-Catalunya.
This saturation, as elEconomista has already pointed out, will make it impossible for more routes to be incorporated and this will lead to an increase in prices by airlines “due to the rule of supply and demand.” For this reason, the president of Aena has opened the door to “continue talking with the public authorities”, after the Government has considered the agreement with the Government to be broken to approve the investment of 1,700 million euros that should allow the conversion of the Barcelona airport in a hub.
Plans of Girona and Reus
But beyond the paralysis of the expansion plans for El Prat, Aena maintains the investments planned for the infrastructures of Girona and Reus. These improvements will serve to increase the capacity of the other two Catalan airports, but will not allow the creation of the great intercontinental hub that Barcelona airport sought to become. Aena affirms that the development of a hub “is not feasible with two airports in different locations” and a distance of around 100 kilometers between them, “since it requires agile connections with reduced stopover times”.
Specifically, a high-speed station will be built at the Girona aerodrome and actions will be carried out to improve and expand both the terminal and the platform, as can be seen on the map. To this end, 367 million euros will be invested through the airport’s Master Plan in order to multiply the number of passengers using these facilities by five to 10.1 million.
For its part, in Reus Aena will invest in improvements to the runway and platform and the renovation of the hold baggage inspection system, among other things, with the expansion of the Terminal Building recently commissioned. The objective of this infrastructure is to reach 2,622,200 passengers at the end of the horizon established in its Master Plan. “We are not giving up on continuing to work and collaborate to enhance the complementarity of the Girona and Reus Airports,” said Sánchez on Wednesday.
Facebook Comments
Disqus