This Monday, the Foment del Treball employer association presented its conclusions on the future of the Barcelona airport, a work to which it has dedicated more than a year of study with a multidisciplinary commission of experts and social agents. In total it has analyzed eleven proposals, of which four are considered most viable. Among them, Foment highlights an option made by the members of the Commission themselves. It consists of extending the third runway to the east by about 840 meters, elevating it over the La Ricarda lagoon using a platform.
Without claiming that it is the best option of those studied, the commission considers that this alternative attempts to optimize the existing variables to improve the capacity of El Prat (airport and environmental conditions, noise, biodiversity and economic cost).
The extension of 840 meters, defends the employer's association, would allow for a take-off runway of 3,500 meters in total, meaning that all airplanes currently on the market could use it in any wind and temperature conditions with the maximum load. The option affects the protected area of La Ricarda, so it is proposed to go over it “without destroying it” using a structure elevated above the lagoon, 300 meters long and about 200 meters wide. The construction system would be similar to that proposed for a runway over the sea but with the length of the pylons much shorter.
The embankment solution with permeable material is also proposed. The runway would be raised to a level of 6 meters (it is currently at a level of 3.26 meters) leaving a free space above the surface of water of between 1.6 meters and 2.5 meters. In any case, this option of 840 meters above the lagoon would also need the approval of Brussels. In this sense, they propose a series of environmental compensations. The ecological report of the report explains that certain areas of the Llobregat delta are "degraded" and are committed to creating a new wetland area in the area of Les Filipines.
The report does not specify the economic cost of this initiative, but estimates that it would exceed Aena's proposal to extend the runway by 500 meters on an embankment by 200 million (extending the runway would entail 263 million of the total of 1.7 billion for the entire project). The impact on the port of Barcelona should also be evaluated.
Foment also sees viable options of extending the runway from 300 meters, as well as using the runways independently. However, he points out that the option of 840 meters above La Ricarda would allow a “pure” configuration of segregated slopes.
The options of a runway over the sea, crossed runways gaining ground from the water or building new airports in the Vilafranca or Anoia area are considered more problematic. They also do not see the option of deriving short-haul flights to Reus and Girona as viable, a route in which the Government of the Generalitat has shown interest.
The president of Foment, Josep Sánchez Llibre, has expressed confidence that the commission's conclusions will make "consensus" possible between the central governments and the Generalitat to expand the airport. "It's now or never", he stressed. For Sánchez Llibre, Catalonia cannot afford to lose "this opportunity" which, he adds, would contribute to its economic boost.
The final objective of an expansion, the report states, should be to improve the airport's intercontinental flight capacity, now constrained by the extension of the runways and their segregated use. This strains El Prat's operations during peak hours of maximum air traffic. A better intercontinental connection, they point out, would help attract international companies and investments. Foment will now send the content of the report to the Government of the Generalitat, the central Government, the mayors of Barcelona and El Prat de Llobregat, the parliamentary groups and the unions, among others.
