The speed that the negotiations on the airport have reached again does not imply that a possible expansion –or the solution that could be agreed upon– will be operational in the short term. In the event that an agreement is reached and there are no new delays, the renovation of El Prat would be ready for the next decade. The technical, administrative and environmental requirements so require.
Any action is subject to a long regulatory process, with stipulated steps and deadlines that must be strictly adhered to and whose complexity goes up a notch in the event that natural spaces are affected and a special permit from Brussels is needed.
The political agreement and the technical solution, then, would be followed by an expression in the Airport Planning and Regulation Document (DORA), the investment and action plan that Aena renews every five years. The Council of Ministers approved the DORA in September 2021 for the period 2022-2026, with which the next plan will not be activated for another three years, nor could the possible extension of El Prat be budgeted for.
Aena's initial project for the expansion consigned 120 million euros for preliminary works until 2025 of a total of 1,700 million and the start of the works was set for 2026 - the investment is financed through the fees that Aena charges to the airlines– The next DORA, when the transformation of the airport could be included again, will enter into force in 2027.
Before that, the alternatives to promote the infrastructure would be discussed. If there is an agreement, the General Secretariat of Transport, through the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, would convene the Airport Coordination Committee of Catalonia, made up of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, the Generalitat, the Government Delegation, corporations local and economic and social organizations, to prepare the master plan.
A technical table between the Generalitat, the central government, Aena and the municipalities affected by the expansion would prepare the new master plan for the airport, where all the agreed actions would be specified.
Once this stage is closed, the following steps would vary depending on whether or not the Natura 2000 Network is affected. If the proposal impacts this protected area, the process will be longer and will depend on the permission of the EU. Before that, the Strategic Environmental Assessment should be carried out, the declaration of Plan of First Order Public Interest by the Council of Ministers and the subsequent consultation with the European Commission in case of occupying protected natural space. The European response would be decisive for the continuity of the project. In contrast, an option that avoids touching protected areas would not require this process.
Other issues of great relevance also enter into the equation. In addition to the possible affectation in the natural space, the acoustic impact on the neighboring populations stands out. Barcelona airport is used by the runway system segregated precisely to minimize aircraft noise. One runway is used for landing and another, the one facing the sea or third runway, for taking off – the planes turn towards the sea and thus less noise pollution is produced for the residents of the area.
This point has been objected to in one of the alternative proposals that are now on the table, the one that is committed to extending the third track both to the east (La Ricarda) and to the west (El Remolar). This solution would bring the noise of the planes closer to the inhabited nuclei.
The possibility of diverting short-haul flights to Reus and Girona to decongest El Prat collides with the rejection of the airlines themselves and with the slot legislation –flight rights–. The solution that ends up being agreed must take all these conditions into account and, in any case, it will not be applied for another ten years.
