Take advantage of the capacity of the underutilized Reus and Girona airports, transferring ten million passengers there each year thanks to part of the flights to European cities that now operate in El Prat. Three million passengers a year in Reus, 35 minutes from Barcelona, thanks to the new high-speed train station approved by the Central Government together with the Costa Daurada airport.
The strategy would serve to decongest the Prat, free up space in its terminals, and be able to bet on intercontinental flights, a pending subject, thanks to the controversial track over the sea proposed as a solution to the expansion.
The plan is the work of the naval engineer Joaquim Coello, ideologue of the marine track together with the former councilor Andreu Mas-Colell and the economist Guillem López Casasnovas, among others.
Coello set out his plan to get Reus off the ground in a conference held yesterday at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters. "If we want to have intercontinental flights, we need to get flights from Barcelona, from origin and destination. We need to encourage companies like Vueling or Ryanair to make this change".
"It's an opportunity for Reus airport and it doesn't pose any problem, it has a long enough runway to be able to do it. It is perfect for this kind of flight", he defended. For Coello it is a shame that Reus, and also Girona, are far below operational capacity, with few connections to European cities, their big market. "Reus and Girona are wasted, it's nonsense. The opportunity is to fly to Europe, and this is not futile. Being able to fly from Reus to Frankfurt, Berlin, Rome or Milan is very important for the business world."
"El Prat has 128 European connections, it is the fourth European airport. On the other hand, it is the sixteenth in Europe in terms of intercontinental connections", recalled Coello. Reus will have this 2023 season, which begins in March, 22 destinations in European cities; only one in another part of the State, in Palma (Mallorca), from June to September.
Coello's conference aroused interest, with the presence of representatives of the economic fabric of Camp de Tarragona, as well as politicians. One of the most interested sectors is tourism. "It makes perfect sense to think that airport growth in Catalonia must go through Reus, which should be a more attractive airport; give it more value. We need passengers", said Berta Cabré, president of the Tarragona Hospitality and Tourism Federation.
In addition to tourism, with great claims such as Port Aventura, which is betting on extending the season and opening almost all year, Coello also sees potential in business travel. "We need to take advantage of Girona and Reus", he insisted. Between the two airports, they fell short of the three million passengers in 2022. Reus attracted 911,000 annual users and Girona 1.3 million.
"Our first proposal is the runway over the sea, the second, to divert traffic from El Prat to nearby airports. There is no problem if they can be connected to Barcelona with a high-speed train that takes 35 minutes. When you go to London, most of the time you don't go to Heathrow, you go to Stansted or Gatwick and then take a train to London. Why don't we do it here? Let's take advantage of Girona and Reus, it's the second leg of our proposal", he concluded, amid applause.
