The Mayor of Barcelona Proposes Ending All Flights to Madrid [View all]
Airline Geeks
The aviation world is in turmoil in Spain after the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, announced a few days ago that she will request Barcelona-El Prat Airport, the main airport of the Catalonian city, to terminate all flights to destinations that can be reached by train, thereby included the famous ‘Puente Aereo,’ the shuttle service between Barcelona and the Spanish capital Madrid.
This is intended to reduce carbon emission in the country since the high-speed train AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) produces 20 times less CO2, claims Ms. Colau, and therefore represents a greener alternative. High speed trains connect Barcelona Sants station to Madrid Atocha almost 20 times a day in each direction in two hours, 30 minutes in case of nonstop trains, and in slightly over three hours for trains stopping at intermediate stations.
Flights between Madrid Barajas and Barcelona El Prat take slightly over one hour, but train stations are located in the city centers while airports require considerable time to be reached. Furthermore, the check-in and boarding process for trains is substantially faster given the absence of security screening, making the door-to-door travel time faster by train than by airplane.
Currently, there are up to 30 daily flights between Barajas and El Prat operated by three carriers: Iberia, Vueling and Air Europa. Iberia and Vueling are part of the IAG group that has also made a takeover bid on Air Europa pending regulatory approval.
Spanish HSR runs between Barcelona and Madrid in 3 hours.
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