The New Prat Terminal Sur will be the principal Hub for all South Europe.
Star Alliance bets for Barcelona as the principal Hub for South Europe.
Between Heaven and Earth, Terminal South becomes the Gates of Catalunya, a spectacular new Barcelona Airport at the Prat by the world famous architect and his Taller de Arquitectura, now is a Terminal that interests the biggest airline network in the world, Star Alliance, from where to offer an integral service to connect the flights from the different airlines and create an Inter-modal transportation (hub) that demonstrates the international vision and vocation of Catalunya and Barcelona as a globalized city.
The international alliance of airlines Star Alliance has presented this morning in Barcelona its plan of expansion for the new South Terminal, which is planned to be inaugurated in 2009. This plan would make Barcelona the principal place of inter-connexion in South Europe, which would mean having direct flights between Barcelona and the main cities in Eastern Europe, like Budapest, Bucharest, Moscow, or Saint Petersburg; the Middle East, like Kuwait, Dubai, Riad; North Africa, like Casablanca, Tripoli, Algiers, Abu Dabi: or Asia, like Istanbul, Bangkok or Singapur.
The hub is a place or inter-connexion between planes, high-speed trains, other trains, underground, taxis, cars, cargo, etc. This airport is the world pioneer for this typology, which later Beijing has used for its own Terminals for the Olympics 2008.
The new South Terminal of the Barcelona airport, signed by Ricardo Bofill, y starting to get into shape after having to solve some technical difficulties.
“The presence of water has obligate us to build a wall 7 kilometres long and 22 meters deep around the entire perimeter” explains Josep Canet, engineer of the AENA Plan, the group that supervises the job.
Another problem has been the instability of the delta terrain “that we have solved with sand dunes 8 meters high that we have been moving over the land to make it compact” he confirms.
25 million users
The south Terminal will serve more than 25 million passengers a year but it is not clear when it will be functioning for the public.
South Terminal, “will be four times bigger than the existing terminals”, alone capable of absorbing 25 million passengers per year with peaks of 8.500 users per hour.
The news infrastructure is formed by 3 parts clearly differentiated. The central building or processor of users where check-in, baggage claim, and a retail area: the central docking area of 654 meters long and 36 wide, for the passengers; and the great inter modal hall where different transportation systems flow.
It will also have more than 10 thousand covered parking spaces and 2 thousand at grade, 40 bus station-spaces and 150 taxi at exit position. The project is costing more than a thousand million euros.
11.12.2006 Julio Bravo
