Today sees the inauguration of the new T1 terminal at Barcelona’s El Prat airport which is being attended by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Minister of Development José Blanco and President of the Generalitat José Montilla.
The new terminal covers an area of 544,000 square metres, has 166 check-in desks, parking for 12,000 vehicles and will create 3,000 new jobs.
Day one of operation will see 240 flights with 30,000 passengers. According to current forecasts, T1 is expected to receive more than 30 million passengers a year. Combined with T2, which receives 25 million passengers a year, the airport is expected to receive 55 million passengers a year and have the capacity for 90 flights per hour.
The new infrastructure, including the terminal building designed by Ricardo Bofill, has cost €1,258 million.
With the expansion of the airport, the services area, a sort of ‘airport city’, is expected to expand accordingly with hotels, commercial premises and conference centres.