With this story, we inaugurate a fortnightly series in The New Barcelona Post to relive key moments in Barcelona's aeronautical history, episodes that take place at its airport or converge there. In this first chapter, we travel to October 23, 1977; almost two years had passed since the dictator's death when an event at El Prat marked the return of democracy to Catalonia. Barcelona-El Prat Airport is not just a crossroads of planes; it is a place where Catalonia has forged its memory. That day, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, registration EC-BYE and christened Ciudad de Mahón, landed on its runways with a passenger who changed the course of history: Josep Tarradellas i Joan, president of the Generalitat in exile.
Directed by filmmaker Pere Portabella, that moment became a documentary, with El Prat as the set and the Iberia plane as co-star of the Transition. A marble plaque in terminal T2B, installed in 2002 for its 25th anniversary, commemorates the moment. Years later, a Council of Ministers held in Barcelona named the airport after him, sealing his legacy.
The Ciudad de Mahón took off from Madrid-Barajas with about 90 passengers, including Tarradellas; his wife Antònia Macià, his daughter Montserrat, Catalan parliamentarians and journalists. A false bomb threat delayed the flight's departure, adding tension to an already symbolic day.
Upon landing at El Prat, the airport vibrated: thousands of people awaited the 78-year-old politician, while a hundred reporters captured every moment. The roar of the engines merged with the applause and shouts of the crowd, expectant for the return of the president.
An image for history
The DC-9 deployed its ventral staircase, and Tarradellas descended to set foot on Catalan soil for the first time in four decades. The image, immortalized by Portabella and dozens of photographers, became iconic. Hours later, from the Palau de la Generalitat, his "Ciutadans de Catalunya, ja soc aquí!" resonated like an echo born on the runways of El Prat.
The return flight
The path from exile to return was also aeronautical. On June 27, 1977, a Learjet 25B took Tarradellas from Villacoublay, near Paris, to Madrid-Barajas. There he negotiated with Adolfo Suárez and was received by King Juan Carlos I. That discreet flight paved the way for the triumphant return to El Prat.
Destination: legacy
The Ciudad de Mahón was renamed Cala Galdana, passed into the hands of Aviaco and later returned to Iberia. After retiring in 2001, it was transferred to the Museum of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Cuatro Vientos base.
El Prat, stage of memory
In 1977, the airport was not just the destination of a plane; it was the place where Catalonia staged its rebirth. More than a crossroads of planes, El Prat is a space of dreams, memories and promises. That October 23, with the Ciudad de Mahón and Tarradellas as protagonists, the first act of a new era began.