Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport

Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport
BCNLEBL

Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport

Barcelona, Spain · Europe
Europe Europe/Madrid IVCA 64.0
226direct destinations
89airlines
3runways
3,353 mLongest runway
1916opened

Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport (IATA: BCN, ICAO: LEBL) (Catalan: Aeroport Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, Spanish: Aeropuerto Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat), also known as Barcelona-El Prat Airport, is an international airport located 15 km (9.3 mi) southwest of the centre of Barcelona, lying in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans, and Sant Boi, in Catalonia, Spain. It is the second-largest and second-busiest airport in Spain, the busiest international airport of Catalonia (greatly surpassing Girona, Reus and Lleida), and the seventh busiest in Europe. In 2025, Barcelona Airport handled a record 57,483,036 passengers, up 4.4% from 2024. It is a hub for Level and Vueling, and a focus city for Air Europa, Iberia, EasyJet and Ryanair. The Barcelona–Madrid air shuttle service, known as "Pont Aeri" (in Catalan) or "Puente Aéreo" (in Spanish), literally "Air Bridge", was the world's busiest route until 2008, with the highest number of flight operations (971 per week) in 2007. The schedule has been reduced since February 2008, when a Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line was opened, covering the distance in 2 hours 30 minutes, and quickly became popular.

Location

Mapa

41.297°N, 2.078°E · 4 m s. n. m. (12 ft)

General data

CountrySpain
CityBarcelona
Coordinates41.297°N, 2.078°E
Elevation4 m s. n. m. (12 ft)
Time zoneEurope/Madrid
Longest runway3,353 m
OperatorAena
Opened1916
Direct destinations226
Passengers per year57,483,036 (2025)

Runways · 3

06L/24R
Length3,353 m11,001 ft
Width60 m197 ft
SurfaceAsphalt
Lighted✓
06R/24L
Length2,660 m8,727 ft
Width60 m197 ft
SurfaceAsphalt
Lighted✓
02/20
Length2,530 m8,301 ft
Width45 m148 ft
SurfaceAsphalt
Lighted✓

Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.

Radio frequencies · 5

Tower

118.100

Ground

121.650

Clearance delivery

121.800CLNC DEL

ATIS (automatic information)

118.650

Approach

119.100
Look for a live feed on LiveATC External site; not every airport has a feed.

Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.

History

Barcelona's first airfield, located at El Remolar, began operations in 1916. However, it did not have good expansion prospects, so a new airport at El Prat opened in 1918. The first plane was a Latécoère Salmson 300 which arrived from Toulouse with final destination Casablanca. The airport was used as headquarters of the Aeroclub of Catalonia and the base for the Spanish Navy's Zeppelin fleet. Scheduled commercial service began in 1927 with an Iberia service to Madrid Cuatro Vientos Airport. This was Iberia's first route. During the time of the Second Spanish Republic El Prat was one of the bases of LAPE (Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas). In 1948, a runway was built (now called runway 07-25); in the same year the first overseas service was operated by Pan American World Airways to New York City, using a Lockheed Constellation. Between 1948 and 1952, a second runway was constructed (runway 16–34), perpendicular to the previous, also taxiways were constructed and a terminal to accommodate passengers. In 1963, the airport reached one million passengers a year. A new control tower was built in 1965. In 1968, a new terminal was opened, which still exists and is in use as what is now Terminal 2B. On 3 August 1970, Pan American World Airways inaugurated regular service among Barcelona, Lisbon and New York, operated by a Boeing 747. On 4 November of the same year, Iberia began the "Air-shuttle" service between Barcelona and Madrid–Barajas. A few years later, in 1976, a terminal was built specifically for Iberia's air-shuttle service and a terminal exclusively for cargo, an annexed mail service and an aircraft ramp for air cargo. In 1977, the airport handled over 5 million passengers annually. From the late seventies to the early nineties, the airport was stalled in traffic and investments until the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona. El Prat underwent a major development consisting of the modernization and expansion of the existing terminal, which became known as Terminal B, and the construction of two further terminals flanking that, known as Terminals A and C respectively. The new Terminal 1 was inaugurated on 16 June 2009, covering 545,000 m2 (5,866,331 sq ft). 70% of today's flights operate from Terminal 1. The old Terminals A, B and C are now known as Terminals 2A, 2B and 2C. Due to the strong drop in air traffic after 1999 and the crisis in the aviation sector in 2001 many charter operations from Girona and Reus were diverted to El Prat, which helped the airport to survive the crisis. On 1 February 2014, Barcelona–El Prat was the first Spanish airport to receive a daily flight with the Airbus A380-800, on the Emirates route to Dubai International Airport. Emirates also offers a second daily flight, also operated by the A380-800. International Airlines Group (IAG) announced in December 2016 flights from Barcelona to the US, Latin America and Asia for the summer of 2017. IAG, formed by British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, created Level, the second airline, after Norwegian, launching low-cost long haul flights from the Catalan city. They announced flights from June 2017 to Los Angeles, Oakland, Punta Cana and Buenos Aires. On 14 October 2019, the airport was the first target of protesters after the sentencing of the trial of Catalonia independence leaders. In the morning, called upon by Democratic Tsunami thousands flocked all the accesses and concourses disrupting normal operations. Catalan Police ordered the closing of all transportation services (bus, Metro and Rail) to avoid further arrivals of demonstrators. The blockade of the main access road (C-32 highway) with people walking between the terminals and city center made Taxi and other services unavailable. Deployment of riot police from Civil Guard, National Police and Mossos d'Esquadra to evict protesters lead to massive confrontations leaving dozens injured. Using social media the organizers called off the action by night time but disruption continued.

Airlines operating here · 89

Other airlines with direct routes

List taken from the airport’s own website (September 2026).

Photo: Ad Meskens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · view original

Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BCN

MLA

“Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BCN. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BCN.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BCN (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_bcn,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-15},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BCN},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BCN}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BCN |title=Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}