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El Prat expansion rekindles neighbourhood and environmental protest in Barcelona
The expansion of Barcelona–El Prat Airport has reignited one of the city’s most sensitive debates: grow as a major international hub or protect the Llobregat Delta. The project, promoted by Aena and backed by Salvador Illa’s Government, is moving forward in the administrative phase while neighbourhood, environmental and social groups complain that public debate has been too discreet for a transformation on this scale.
The Zeroport platform has revived opposition and called a major mobilisation for 20 September in Barcelona. The date is no coincidence: it coincides with a key stage in the DORA 2027-2031 process and comes at a politically sensitive moment, with the expansion once again becoming a banner for debates on the economic model, mobility and climate.
Aena's overall plan envisages a minimum investment of 3.2 billion euros. In the 2027-2031 period, more than 1 billion is planned for measures such as the expansion of T1, the renovation of T2 and compensatory environmental measures. The most controversial stages, such as the new satellite terminal and the redesign of the seaward runway, would be linked to later phases and to approval of the new master plan.
The most sensitive point remains the runway beside the sea and its possible impact on the Ricarda area, a lagoon in the Delta del Llobregat protected by the Natura 2000 Network. Aena and the Govern argue that the new design reduces the impact compared with previous proposals and would strengthen Barcelona as an intercontinental airport. Opposing groups reply that any expansion over a protected area worsens environmental pressure that the delta has already endured for decades.
The discussion comes as the airport records all-time figures. El Prat closed 2025 with around 57.5 million passengers, above its theoretical capacity of 55 million. For supporters of the expansion, that figure shows the infrastructure needs more room if Barcelona is to compete with other major European hubs. For its detractors, it confirms precisely the opposite: that the city already carries a volume of tourism and air traffic that is difficult to reconcile with housing, pollution and quality of life.
Zeroport and the organisations joining the protest want to use the summer to organise talks, prepare arguments and put the issue back on the streets. They denounce the fact that environmental compensation from earlier expansions is still pending, and that talking only about airport competitiveness leaves out uncomfortable questions about emissions, gentrification, noise and dependence on tourism.
The El Prat conflict is not new. In 2021, the project was shelved because of the clash between the central government, the Generalitat and environmental opposition. In 2025, the agreement between Aena and the Govern reopened the way forward, but also reactivated a network of opposition that had spent years defending the delta as a physical and symbolic limit to the city's growth.
For Barcelona, this is not only an airport project. It is a decision about what kind of city it wants to be in the coming years: more connected, yes, but also more exposed to tourist pressure, noise and the loss of natural spaces that are difficult to recover. La Ricarda concentrates that tension like few places: it seems a small point on the map, but it sums up a huge question about the metropolitan future. Growth may be necessary; deciding how, where and at what price is what the city has still not discussed enough.