Barcelona El Prat Airport, simply known as El Prat Airport, is located 12 km (7.5 mi) southwest from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, lying in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans and Sant Boi. The airport is the second largest in Spain behind Madrid's Barajas Airport and the largest in Catalonia. It is a main base for Spanair and Vueling and a focus city for Air Europa and Iberia. The airport mainly serves domestic, European and North African destinations, also having flights to Southeast Asia, Latin America and North America.

The Barcelona–Madrid air shuttle service, known as the "Puente Aéreo" (in Spanish), or "Pont Aeri" (in Catalan) literally "Air Bridge", was the world's busiest route until 2008, with the highest number of flight operations (971 per week) in 2007. The schedule has been reduced since February 2008, when a Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line was opened, covering the distance in 2 hours 40 minutes, and quickly became popular. In 2010, over 29.2 million passengers used Barcelona Airport, a 6.5% increase compared with 2009, making it the 10th busiest airport in Europe.

Barcelona's first airfield, located at El Remolar, began operations in 1916. However, it did not have good expansion prospects, so a new airport at El Prat opened in 1918. The first plane was a Latécoère Salmson 300 which arrived from Toulouse with final destination, Casablanca. The airport was used as headquarters of the Aeroclub of Catalonia and the base for the Spanish Navy's Zeppelin fleet. Scheduled commercial service began in 1927 with an Iberia service to Madrid Cuatro Vientos Airport. This was Iberia's first route.

In 1948, a runway was built, today 07-25, in the same year the first overseas service was operated by Pan American World Airways to New York City, using a Lockheed Constellation. Between 1948 and 1952 a second runway was constructed (runway 16-34), perpendicular to the previous, also taxiways were constructed and a terminal to accommodate passengers. In 1963 the airport reached one million passengers a year. A new control tower was built in 1965 and the terminal was rebuilt in 1968 (currently the oldest wing of Terminal B). On 3 August 1970, Pan American World Airways inaugurated regular service between Barcelona, Lisbon and New York, operated by a Boeing 747. On 4 November of the same year, Iberia began the "Air-shuttle" service between Barcelona and Madrid-Barajas. A few years later, in 1976, a terminal was built specifically for Iberia's air-shuttle service and a terminal exclusively for cargo, an annexed mail service and an aircraft ramp for air cargo. In 1977 the airport handled over 5 million passengers annually.

Most of the traffic at Barcelona Airport is domestic and European, in which Spanair and Vueling have an operational base. However, the number of intercontinental connections is well below other European airports with their level of passenger traffic. The lack of intercontinental connections has been a constant cause of complaint and pressure by the authorities and Catalan groups in recent years, who want the airport to become a center of world air traffic distribution and not just European.

The airport is located 16 kilometres south of the city and is also known as El Prat, the town where it is located. The terminals at Barcelona Airport are organized in terms of carriers and not according to the destination or place of origin.

The following international airlines operate from T1: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Aeroflot, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Air Algerie, Air Baltic, Air Canada, Air Europa, Air France, Air Nostrum, Alitalia (and its subsidiaries CAI First and CAI Second), American Airlines (except for flights with code shares with Air Berlin and Niki Lufthart), Arkia Israel Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, Blue1, British Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Cityflyer Express, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Airlines, EgyptAir, El Al, Estonian Air, Finnair, Iberia, Iberworld, Israir, KLM, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, Sun D'Or International Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, TAP Portugal, Tarom, Tunisair, Turkish Airlines, Ukraine International Airlines, US Airways and Vueling.

The following airlines operate from Terminal T2 (A, B and C): T2 B: Aer Lingus, Air Arabia Maroc, Air Berlin, Air Cairo, Air Italy, Air Malta, Air Mediterranée, Air Vallée, AMC Airlines, Ándalus Líneas Aéreas, Astra Airlines, Astraeus, AtlasJet, Belavia, Blue Air, Blue Line, Bmibaby, British Midland Airways, Bulgaria Air, Cimber Sterling, City Airline, Compagnie Aerienne du Mali, Condor Flugdienst, Cyprus Airways, Donavia Airlines, Dubrovnik Airline, Eastern Airways, FlyLal Charters, Freebird Airlines, Germanwings, Hellas Jet, Iceland Express, Icelandair, Interstate Airlines, Itali Airlines, Jet Time, Jet2.com, Jet4You, Livingston, Luxair, Meridiana, Mint Líneas Aéreas, Mistral Air, Monarch Airlines, Niki Luftfahrt, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Nouvelair Tunisie, Onur Air, Pakistan International Airlines, Pegasus Air, Red Wings Airlines, Rossiya-Russian Airlines, Royal Wings, Ryanair, S7 Airlines, Saga Airlines, Shell Aircraft, Sky Work Airlines, Smart Wings, Swiftair, Tailwind Havayollari, Transaero Airlines, Transavia Denmark, Transavia.com, Ural Airlines, Vim Airlines, Wind Jet and Wizz Air. T2 C: Easyjet and Easyjet Switzerland operate hear.

Connections between Barcelona and the airport and back:

Aerobús (A1 and A2)

Daily service between Plaça de Catalunya and Barcelona Airport.
Frequency: every 10 minutes.
Approximate journey time: 35 minutes.
Barcelona - airport route: Plaça de Catalunya (in front of El Corte Inglés department store) - Sepúlveda/Urgell - Plaça d'Espanya/Creu Coberta - Barcelona Airport (terminals T1 and T2).
Airport - Barcelona route: Airport (terminals T1 and T2) - Plaça d'Espanya/av. Reina M. Cristina - Gran Via de les C. C./Comte d'Urgell - Plaça de la Universitat - Plaça de Catalunya.
Ticket price: 5.30 € (single); € 9,15 (return).
Times: Departures from Pl. de Catalunya, from 5.28am to 12.30am. | Departures from Barcelona Airport, from 6am to 1am.
For further information about the Barcelona Aerobús : Tel. 902 100 104. | www.aerobusbcn.com.

Train (RENFE)

Daily connections with Barcelona Airport from the Renfe (Spanish Rail) stations at Sants.
Frequency: every 30 minutes.
Journey time: 19 minutes (from Sants).
Times: Departures from Sants, from 5.13am to 11.14pm. | Departures from Barcelona Airport, from 5.42am to 11.38pm.
For further information about the train to Barcelona airport: www.renfe.es.

Bus (TMB)

The 46 bus runs from Pl. d’Espanya to Barcelona Airport (T1 and T2).
Frequency: every 30 minutes.
Single ticket price: 1.40 € (integrated fare).
Times: Departures from Pl. d’Espanya, from 5am to 12.15am. | Departures from Barcelona Airport, from 5.30am to 12.45am.
For further information: www.tmb.cat.
Night bus (NITBUS)

The N17 night bus operates from Ronda Universitat / Pl. Catalunya to Barcelona Airport, stopping at Pl. d’Espanya.
Frequency: every 20 minutes.
Single ticket price: 1.40 € (integrated fare).
Times: Departures from Pl. Catalunya, from 11pm to 5am. Departures from Pl. d’Espanya, from 11.10pm to 4.40am. Departures from Barcelona Airport, from 9.50pm to 4.50am.
Further information about the night bus service to Barcelona Airport is available on the website: www.emt-amb.com.

By car
The C-31 Barcelona-Castelldefels road leads to Barcelona Airport, and connects with the C-32 Barcelona-Sitges road. From the Avinguda Diagonal, the Ronda de Dalt and Ronda Litoral ring roads also connect with the C-31.

The estimated journey time from Bracelona city center to the airport is about 20 minutes.