In the heart of the Llobregat delta, where the river born in Castellar de n'Hug reaches the sea, a modest chicken farm called La Volatería became the improbable "ground zero" of aviation in Barcelona and practically in Spain. If the old Casa Antúnez racetrack, near the current Paseo de la Zona Franca, witnessed the first plane to fly over the state in 1910, it was at La Volatería where that dream truly took off, giving rise to the current Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport.
A humble field for an immense dream
In 1916, barely six years after that pioneering flight at the racetrack, the company Pujol, Comabella y Compañía, with offices in Sant Martí de Provençals, chose a swampy plot of 600 by 400 meters in El Prat to professionalize aviation in Spain. The name "La Volatería" could not have been more accurate: where chickens, geese, and turkeys once clucked, the engines of the first airplanes would soon roar.
That year, the first permanent hangars were built next to a pine forest, and the Escola Catalana d'Aviació was founded, marking the birth of organized aviation in Catalonia. In 1919, La Volatería became the first aerodrome in Spain with regular commercial flights. The biplanes of the Compagnie Latécoère, which followed the coastline so as not to get lost on their journeys, connected Toulouse with Casablanca, stopping in Barcelona to refuel, pick up a passenger, and postal items twice a week.
Those fragile planes, loaded with mail, adventure, and piloted by legendary pilots like Mermoz or Saint Exupery, put La Volatería on the world aviation map.
From farm to international airport
La Volatería did not remain an improvised field. In 1927, under the Law of Aerodromes and Airports, it was declared an aerodrome of general interest. That same year, Iberia inaugurated its first commercial route between Barcelona and Madrid, the "great-great-grandfather" of the current air shuttle. Almost a century ago, Rohrbach Ro VIII Roland planes, with space for ten passengers, already took off from La Volatería. Today, modern Airbus planes from Iberia and Vueling, which hold more than 43% of the market in El Prat, fly through the skies arriving and departing from practically the same grounds.
The dream of a large international airport, although Lufthansa already flew to Europe from Barcelona, took shape in 1934, when it was planned to integrate La Volatería into a more ambitious project. However, the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) paralyzed any future project. It was not until 1941, with the General Works Plan, that the project resurfaced. In 1949, the Barcelona Transoceanic Airport (ATB) was inaugurated, covering the original grounds of La Volatería. Since 1992, managed by Aena, it has consolidated itself as the second most important airport in Spain, a giant that connects Barcelona with the world. Literally.
Adventures in the sky: the pioneers of the airfield
The history of La Volatería is full of feats that reflect the adventurous spirit of aviation in its early days. In addition to pilot training, aerial excursions, and the first trip to Mallorca in 1917, the Naval Aeronautics School, a military institution, became interested in the airfield, taking control of it in 1921. The flying experiments of its uniformed professionals marked the era: on June 7, 1921, aeronauts Pedro Mª Cardona, Taviel de Andrade, and Guillén ascended in a military balloon, although the wind carried them, off-program, to Montserrat mountain. Weeks later, in August, another balloon fell into the sea after a night flight. The torpedo boat Audaz, like a hero of the Navy, rescued the possibly first "aerial castaways."
The beginnings were not without risks on land either. The first hangars, covered with tarpaulins like circus tents, were so fragile that the wind destroyed them, sometimes injuring personnel. Over time, they were replaced by sheet metal structures, and soldiers lived in improvised barracks made of packing materials, in conditions as rudimentary as they were heroic.
Pioneers and giants: the operators of La Volatería
La Volatería was home to visionaries. Pujol, Comabella y Cía. founded the first company dedicated exclusively to aviation in Spain. Later, Talleres Hereter took over from that company, until in 1921 the Aeronáutica Naval leased the land, operating it for what would in the future be the Spanish Navy's Aircraft Flotilla. Compagnie Latécoère, which evolved into Aéropostale and then Air France, also used La Volatería as a key stopover for its postal flights, although it soon built its own nearby airfield, taking advantage of the abundance of land in the delta. Iberia, born in 1927, consolidated La Volatería as a main line hub on its Barcelona-Madrid route.
During the Second Republic, the Generalitat acquired the Canudas Airfield, integrating it with La Volatería. After the Civil War, control passed to the State, and in the 80s, the Organismo Autónomo de Aeropuertos Nacionales (OAAN) gave way to Aena, which today manages the airport.
La Volatería or "the sailors' field"?
Although officially called La Volatería, locals also knew it as "the sailors' field" due to the presence of the Naval School and its unofficial name became more used than the original. This small plot of just over 24 hectares, where sky, sea, and land met, not only marked the beginning of aviation in Barcelona but laid the foundations for the airport that today connects the city with the world.
Every time a plane takes off from El Prat's three modern runways, two parallel and one crossed, it carries a piece of La Volatería: a place where, 109 years ago, a handful of dreamers transformed a chicken farm into the first step towards the sky. Next year, the airport will turn 110 years old with increasingly modern planes taking off and landing on the same grounds where it all began: a humble field that dared to dream big. It succeeded.