President to decide on Barcelona Airport expansion 'ideally before summer'

Catalan president Salvador Illa has announced that the government "does not want to delay" a decision on a potential expansion of the Barcelona Airport. On Monday, the decision would be made "ideally before summer," as he said in an interview with Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.

Illa said the government receives a technical report "in days or weeks." Once the report is published, the cabinet will look for "a vast political consensus" with technical severity.

In the interview, the Catalan president said that the government has achieved "more difficult things," but "everyone is aware of what I defend, we must have a connected economy."

Although he did not anticipate any potential technical proposals, he said he had "clearly" addressed this issue before.

'Very difficult'

Former Catalan president and Illa's predecessor, Pere Aragonès, said that expanding the airport would be "very difficult."

In an interview with Ser Catalunya radio, a year after the 2024 Catalan election, Aragonès said that "it is not easy" to add more flights and enlarge the airport's runways, while keeping the protected natural areas and not affecting nearby residents.

"We'll see the government's proposal," Aragonès said.

Meanwhile, the left-wing Comuns party, that also gave support with Esquerra to Illa for him to be named Catalan president back in August, rejected the technical criteria.

Expanding the airport "goes against preserving natural areas" and "stopping" mass tourism, Candela López, a spokesperson for Comuns, said on Monday.