In one of the hottest summers on record in Barcelona and in the year the city reaches a record number of direct air destinations, the Barcelona-El Prat airport has taken the step this week that had been announced for months: Aena has awarded the drafting of the new Master Plan and its Strategic Environmental Assessment.
The contract has been awarded to the temporary union of companies formed by Mott MacDonald Spain and IDOM Consultoría, Ingeniería y Arquitectura, for an amount of 2.68 million euros and a maximum term of five years. This is the technical, legal and environmental document that should pave the way for the biggest transformation of El Prat since the construction of T1 in the early 2000s.
It is not the first figure that had been handled. When Aena announced it last November in an Esade Matins session, the bidding budget was around 4.45 million. The final adjustment to 2.68 million does not change the essence: El Prat enters the decisive phase of a process that Aena has been studying since 2019 and that now has deadlines, contractors and, above all, increasingly organized opposition. The stated objective of Aena and its president, Maurici Lucena, is to consolidate El Prat among the major European airports.
The project contemplates extending the runway closest to the sea by 500 meters, building a new satellite terminal connected to T1 and expanding the existing terminals. T1 would gain 70,000 square meters, which would mean 15.5% more surface area by moving its facade, while T2 would undergo a comprehensive remodeling.
According to the Airport Regulation Document (DORA III), the specific investment planned for El Prat amounts to 3.2 billion euros, within the global plan of almost 13 billion euros that Aena will distribute among its twelve main airports. This document, already approved internally, must still pass through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the National Commission for Markets and Competition before its final approval by the Council of Ministers, scheduled before September 30, 2026.
Lucena has been explicit with the deadlines, albeit with nuances. The contract sets a maximum of five years to draft the Master Plan, but Aena aims to complete it in four. With this calendar, technical and environmental studies begin this summer of 2026, the final approval of the document is scheduled for the end of 2029, and the execution of the main works, including the extension of the runway, would take place between 2032 and 2034.
The contract sets a maximum of five years to draft the Master Plan, but Aena aims to complete it in four
Before starting any work, Aena will need authorization from the Ministry of Transport and the approval of Brussels, as part of the affected area is part of the Natura 2000 Network.
Modernization in parallel
While the Master Plan advances through administrative channels, Aena is executing a modernization program with more than 800 million euros already mobilized. In March, it tendered the adaptation works for T2 for 65.2 million euros (20 months of execution), which include the renovation of pavements, tiling, carpentry, and electrical and air conditioning systems, improvements that have been expected for years.
It is also renovating, with almost 2 million euros, the old offices of the T2 control tower, which, after having been the headquarters of Plan Barcelona and Norwegian's hub for Southern Europe, will now host Aena Ventures, the company's startup acceleration program. This space will be one of the protagonists of ACI Innovate World, which Barcelona will host for the first time from November 23 to 25, 2026.
These actions are joined by new hand luggage inspection technology and various improvements in the airfield.
The engine: passenger numbers
This double speed, with visible short-term works and a large long-term expansion, is explained by traffic data. El Prat closed 2025 with more than 57 million passengers, above its theoretical capacity of 55 million, and has started 2026 strongly: 3.8 million travelers in January, a record for that month. The awarding of the Master Plan has immediately activated opponents. Comuns and ERC maintain their frontal rejection of the expansion.
The former have decided to take the battle to Brussels so that the European Commission vetoes the project due to its impact on the protected areas of the Llobregat delta, especially La Ricarda and Remolar-Filipines. According to calculations by Ada Colau's previous municipal government, reaching 70 million passengers would trigger a 33% increase in emissions. The European context is also not favorable: the Commission maintains an open procedure against Spain for non-compliance with the habitats directive and has repeatedly demanded (2013, 2021, and 2026) the pending environmental compensations since the previous expansion.
Aena responds to all this with a renaturalization plan that includes the recovery of 50 hectares in Can Sabadell and plans to compensate almost 300 hectares in total. Environmental organizations, such as Depana, question these compensations and argue that the La Ricarda lagoon does not allow for any intervention.
A long process with high political voltage
With the contract already awarded, the longest and least visible phase begins: years of technical, hydrological, and biodiversity studies, crossed with intense negotiations in Madrid, Barcelona, and Brussels. Aena hopes to have the Master Plan ready for final approval by the end of 2029. Meanwhile, El Prat continues to grow: more passengers, more destinations, and terminals that are being modernized. An airport that, while waiting to know if it will finally extend its runway by the sea, is already transforming internally with the mentality of someone who builds thinking in decades.