Barcelona Airport: It's time for decision-making and great opportunities

Since its approval, the Barcelona Airport runway expansion project has generated great controversy in relation to its impact on climate change which, treated from a rational point of view, provides positive awareness of the seriousness of the current situation.

We are facing a global problem that encompasses a large part of human activity, where common mitigation efforts are key, since climate change affects all countries. With the new European Union (EU) Climate Law of June 2021, the European Parliament proposed an emissions reduction of at least 55% by 2030 and the political commitment to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 as a legal obligation. The EU's plan for a greener and more sustainable Europe encompasses and commits a wide range of sectors, and among them is aviation.

Environmental preservation and emissions control are priority objectives for the sector, which is immersed in a period of very high innovation with important initiatives to mitigate environmental impact:

1. Improvement of operations and navigation with continuous landing systems, use of satellites and the challenge of the Single European Sky, which its simple achievement would reduce emissions by 10%, for which we are technologically prepared and which is not materialized due to lack of political will.
2. Increasingly efficient aircraft through innovation and technological development in propulsion systems, aerodynamics and materials.
3. Use of new fuels such as hydrogen. Airbus has announced for 2035 the design of a carbon-free aircraft.
4. Green airports with a commitment to decarbonization, use of alternative energies and reduction of consumption.

Therefore, aviation is highly committed to being a benchmark in sustainability, in the face of pressures that seek to say otherwise. Europe is committed to harmonized, not punctual, actions that increase their effectiveness. Along these lines, we should focus on the impact that the project has on the La Ricarda lagoon, an area protected by the European Natura 2000 network.

It seems reasonable that the key will be to obtain Europe's essential endorsement for the necessary environmental compensations. For some it seems impossible, for others it seems reasonable, so the proposal, as it cannot be otherwise, must incorporate all the contributions from the territory with diverse approaches. Once the investment is accepted, let's optimize the solution so that Europe's filter ratifies its suitability.

Regarding the investment to be made, it should be clarified that it is made by the airport manager. It does not come from the State Budgets or the Generalitat, so there can be no talk of any financial nonsense for the taxpayer, nor does it move the battery factory from Catalonia or other State investments away. This is not the case of the high-speed connection of the Reus and Girona airports with the city of Barcelona, which are.

Due to the physical and environmental limitations of the surroundings, we are facing the last possible development of the infrastructure, after the two major transformations due to the 92 Olympic Games and the first decade of the 2000s with the commissioning of the third runway in 2006 and the new terminal in 2009.

It is important to note that airports do not select the type of client that uses them; it is the tourist offer and the attractiveness of the territory that decide. The commitment to culture, talent and innovation, renewable energies, new technologies and the excellence of our business schools is what creates demand and facilitates the creation of long-haul flights. Airports serve the territory they serve and, therefore, must facilitate and help the operation of these flights, and, in this sense, the expansion project is oriented.

The key will be to obtain Europe's essential endorsement for the necessary environmental compensations

The revision of the Master Plan in the coming months should focus from a more technical than political point of view, without partisan or short-term approaches, with the aim of clearly defining the airport offer that Catalonia needs.

We are facing a unique opportunity for a change in trend, in paradigm, towards active participation of the territory in defining our strategic positioning based on the airport we want and can be. I say "can" because the future is not easy, without possibilities for a HUB360º, but with very powerful scenarios that improve our long-haul connectivity.

The investment is made by the airport manager, it does not come from the State Budgets or the Generalitat, so there can be no talk of any financial absurdity for the taxpayer.

Barcelona Airport has an important network of connections with Europe and North Africa, which, together with its privileged geographical location in the important East-West flow being created by the growth of air transport in Asia, will favor an increase in long-haul routes to this area.

Strengthening the Airport-Port binomial as a catalyst for long-haul flights, not only with America but also with Asia. Important Middle Eastern companies define themselves as "cruise travel carriers."

The Catalan airport system provides important and interesting opportunities for new strategies in airport management.

In short, Barcelona Airport must define a clear strategic positioning and, based on this, apply new and specific strategies that guarantee the essential development of the Airport, respecting, as it cannot be otherwise, environmental requirements and compensations. It is a time for decision-making and great opportunities.

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