Josep Tarradellas Barcelona - El Prat Airport

Barcelona's airport dates to 1918, when an airfield opened at El Prat de Llobregat on the flat delta land southwest of the city, initially hosting airship and early airline operations before scheduled flights developed in the 1920s. The airport grew steadily through the mid-twentieth century. A landmark modernization came ahead of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, when architect Ricardo Bofill redesigned the terminal complex that is now Terminal 2.

The next leap was Terminal 1, another Bofill design opened in June 2009: a sweeping half-million-square-meter building between the runways that more than doubled capacity and now handles most of the airport's traffic. A third, sea-parallel runway had opened in 2004 to allow segregated operations that reduce noise over nearby towns.

In 2019 the airport was officially renamed Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, honoring the Catalan president who restored the region's self-government after the Franco era. Barcelona has become the largest base for Vueling and a major long-haul growth story, regularly ranking among Europe's busiest airports with more than 50 million passengers a year. Debate continues over expanding capacity on the environmentally sensitive Llobregat delta.

Barcelona-El Prat operates three runways, with the two parallels normally used in segregated mode, one for departures and one for arrivals, partly to limit noise over neighboring towns and the protected delta wetlands. Terminal 1 hosts Vueling's largest base plus most full-service and long-haul carriers.

The older Bofill-designed Terminal 2 serves Ryanair, easyJet, and other low-cost airlines. The Madrid air shuttle, dense European short-haul, and growing transatlantic and Asian services define the mix, and summer peaks are among Europe's most intense. Cargo facilities and a corporate aviation area occupy the seaward side of the field.