All About Terminals 1 and 2 of Barcelona Airport

Back in 2009, the Barcelona Airport, also known as the Barcelona-El Prat Airport, expanded from one terminal to two in order to accommodate heavy traffic due to the growth of the city and keep things moving efficiently. Terminal 1 was built 4 kilometers away from the first terminal and the old terminal became Terminal 2. Today, Terminal 1 operates the majority of the flights while the two terminals together have made flying in and out of Barcelona much easier. Here’s everything you need to know about Terminals 1 and 2 at the Barcelona airport.

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Terminal 1 (T1)

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Terminal 1 opened in 2009 and now gets most of the traffic in Barcelona Airport. The terminal was designed by Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill and was built to handle large numbers of people and make travel to and from Barcelona much easier for passengers by proving better service than the old terminal. Terminal 1 contains 101 gates and over 20,000 square meters of shopping areas. With the addition of Terminal 1, the Barcelona airport was able to reach about 90 flight operations per hour, vastly improving the ease and convenience of travel for the tens of millions of passengers traveling through the airport each year. Terminal 1 is also the headquarters of Vueling, a Spanish low-cost airline that flies to over forty countries and a very popular choice for those traveling to and from the city.

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Terminal 2 (T2)

Photo via Pixabay

Before the expansion of the airport and the addition of the new Terminal 1, Terminal 2 was home to the old terminals A, B, and C, which are now sub-terminals located within Terminal 2. Nowadays, Terminal 2 operates about 30% of the flights coming and going from Barcelona’s airport. Most of the airlines that fly in and out of Terminal two are the low-cost and regional companies including Ryanair and Easy Jet.

Connections

Although the two Barcelona airport terminals are 4 kilometers apart, getting between them for connecting flights is easy. There’s a free shuttle bus that runs between the two terminals about every 6 to 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, and traveling between the terminals takes about 15 minutes maximum. Connections to and from the city center of Barcelona are also available at both airport terminals.