What is the BCN Airport?
The Josep Tarradellas airport, more commonly known as El Prat airport, opened in 1918. It started as the headquarters of Aeroclub de Catalonia and the base for the Spanish Navy’s Zeppelin fleet, but opened its commercial operations in 1927. Over time, the airport grew and became one of the busiest in Europe – the Barcelona-Madrid air shuttle service was the world’s busiest route in 2008.
Nowadays, the BCN airport is dominated by domestic and European routes. Vueling and Clickair have created operating bases there and that brought an increase in low-cost airline traffic. The El Prat has three runways and two terminals, with one of them being the merger of others. Once the airport was expanded in 2009, it became capable of handling 55 million passengers annually.
Where is El Prat (BCN) Airport?
It is located 15 kw southwest of downtown Barcelona, in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans, and Sant Boi. They all belong to the Catalonia region in Spain.
Barcelona BCN Terminals
The El Prat airport is divided in two major terminals, each one with several subdivisions. Here is a brief explanation of the main features at each one.
Terminal 1 (T1)
Opened in 2009, this terminal has an area of 548,000 m², 13,000 parking spaces, and 45 gates, with the possibility of being expanded to 60. This terminal is large enough to accommodate aircraft as large as the Airbus A380. Another interesting feature is that it is subdivided in five Modules, four of them handling Schengen flights and the other handling non-Schengen and non-European flights.
Even though this terminal is capable of handling millions of passengers annually, it is on the verge of overcrowding. Therefore, there are plans to build a satellite terminal named T1S to increase its overall capacity; it will be built 1,5 km far from the regular T1. Right now, the Terminal 1 features 258 check-in counters, 60 jetways, 15 baggage carousels, and 12,000 exclusive parking spaces.
Terminal 2 (T2)
This is the oldest of the terminals. It is divided into three parts, one of them dating back to 1968 – the others were added before the 1992 Summer Olympics. The Terminal 2 became almost empty once the Terminal 1 was opened, but the airport’s authorities could deal with the situation by encouraging low-cost airlines like EasyJet and Ryanair to install their operations at the Terminal 2.
How to travel between Barcelona BCN terminals?
There are some lines of public bus which can be used to move between terminals at the Barcelona BCN airport. This transportation is made between the Terminal 1 (T1) and the divisions B and C of the Terminal 2 (T2B and T2C). It is always free of charge and comes every day with a frequency of 10 minutes at least. The largest duration is of 14 minutes from Terminal 2 towards the Terminal 1.