Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN): flights, terminals and passenger guide

Plan your trip through BCN

Barcelona-El Prat arrivals and departures

The boards on this page show the latest recorded arrivals and departures at Barcelona-El Prat, in Barcelona local time. Open the full board to search and filter the day's flights, and the flight archive for earlier days.

Delays, gate changes and cancellations are the airline's decisions, so on the day its messages and the screens in the terminal have the last word.

The airport in a few lines

Barcelona's airport is officially Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, named after a former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya; most people simply say El Prat. Its codes are BCN (IATA) and LEBL (ICAO), and Aena, the Spanish airport operator, runs it. It lies in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Viladecans and Sant Boi de Llobregat, about 15 km south-west of the city centre.

It handled 57,483,036 passengers in 2025 and it never closes: flights, the terminals and the bus between them run through the night, although shops and desks keep shorter hours. Three runways serve it, two parallel ones and a cross runway. For anything the airport itself runs, Aena answers on +34 913 211 000, 24 hours a day.

T1 or T2: the first thing to check

Barcelona-El Prat has two passenger terminals about 4 km apart by road, with no walkway and no connection after security. T1, opened in 2009, is the larger building and takes most flights. T2 is the older terminal, one building in three sections, T2A, T2B and T2C, used mostly by low-cost airlines. Aena allocates airlines to terminals, not destinations, and it can move them, so the terminal printed on your boarding pass is the one to trust.

Car parks, car hire desks, lounges and priority security are separate for each terminal too.

Into Barcelona: which way suits you

• The Aerobús coach is the simplest, day or night: line A1 from T1 or A2 from T2, with a luggage hold, about 35 minutes to Plaça Catalunya, from €6.75 one way (listed by travel sites in October 2026, not set by Aerobús); the ticket machine shows the exact fare.
• Metro L9 Sud suits travellers with a pass: from Aeroport T1 or Aeroport T2, with a change to L1 or L5, 30 to 45 minutes to the centre. It needs the €5.70 Airport Ticket or a pass that covers the airport.
• The Rodalies R2 Nord train is the quick link from T2 to Sants or Passeig de Gràcia, 19 to 27 minutes, about every 30 minutes.
• City bus 46 to Plaça Espanya is the cheapest and accepts the T-casual, if you have time and little luggage.
• A taxi goes door to door and pays off for three or four people: on the meter, at least €21.00 from the airport, usually 20 to 35 minutes to the city.

After midnight the Aerobús keeps running and night buses N16, N17 and N18 take over from the Metro, which runs later on Fridays and on the eve of public holidays and all night on Saturdays. The transport comparison sets every option side by side.

How early to be at the airport

Aena's minimum is 45 minutes before departure, but that leaves nothing for queues. Plan to walk into the terminal about two hours before a domestic or Schengen flight and three hours before a flight to the UK, the Americas or anywhere else outside Schengen, which also means passport control. Your airline's check-in and bag-drop deadlines come first.

Add 15 to 20 minutes if you might arrive at the wrong terminal, for instance on the train for a T1 flight. Passengers with Barrier Free assistance should arrive 2 hours 30 minutes ahead. The paid Fast Track in T1 opens from 04:00 to 23:00 and the Fast Lane in T2 around the clock; both shorten only the security queue.

Changing terminal or catching a connection

Aena's free shuttle bus links T1 and T2 day and night, every 5 to 10 minutes. It takes about 10 minutes from T1 to T2B and T2C and about 14 minutes back, and stops at T1 Floor 0 (arrivals) and Floor 3 (departures). Door to door, count 15 to 20 minutes, more at busy times.

A connection between flights in the same terminal follows the "Connecting Flights" signs. A connection between T1 and T2 always means leaving one building, riding the shuttle and clearing security again in the other, sometimes with passport control and your bags to collect and check in again; allow at least an extra hour on top of your airline's minimum connection time.

Driving, dropping off and hiring a car

Each terminal has its own Aena car parks, so drive to the one on your ticket. The Express car parks at T1 and T2 are for dropping off and collecting: the first 10 minutes are free, then the whole stay is charged, up to 2 hours at most. For longer trips there are General car parks beside both terminals and, for flights from T1 only, the booked Long-stay and Low-cost car parks with a free shuttle bus. Aena shows the price when you book.

Car hire desks are on T1 Floor 1 and in T2B on Floor 0, with the same main brands at both. Barcelona's low-emission zone limits cars without a DGT environmental label on weekdays, and the AP-7 and AP-2 motorways have been toll-free since 2021, while the southern C-32 still charges.

After landing at Barcelona

Coming from outside the Schengen area, you start at passport control, where non-EU short-stay visitors are registered in the EU Entry/Exit System; ETIAS is not required yet. Bags come out in the Sky Center hall in T1, or at Carousel 00 for the Madrid air shuttle, and in halls A, B or C in T2. From outside the EU, customs follows, with a green and a red channel.

If a bag is missing or damaged, report it at your airline's handling-agent desk before you leave the hall. People meeting you wait at the meeting points in the arrivals halls on T1 Floor 1 and T2B Floor 0, and the Aerobús stops, the taxi ranks and the Metro are signed from there.

Services

• Aena information desks in both terminals, and Aena Maps in the Aena app to find a desk, toilet or cash machine from where you stand.
• Free Wi-Fi, "Airport Free Wifi Aena", after a 15-minute email check.
• Left luggage on Floor 0 of both terminals, 24 hours in T1 and 06:00 to 22:00 in T2.
• Lost property for both terminals on T1 Floor 1.
• Four Aena lounges, three in T1 and Canudas in T2, from €48 per adult.
• More than 30 places to eat in T1 and about 20 in T2, and duty-free shops in both.
• Free Barrier Free assistance for reduced mobility, booked 48 hours ahead.
• Every phone number, sorted by problem, on contacts, and every service terminal by terminal under airport services.

The mistakes that cost travellers time

• Boarding Aerobús A1 for a T2 flight, or A2 for T1: the lines serve one terminal each.
• Taking the Rodalies train to a T1 flight: it stops only at T2.
• Buying a T-casual for the airport Metro: the barrier at Aeroport T1 and T2 will not open.
• Treating T2A, T2B and T2C as three terminals: they are sections of T2, a short walk apart.
• Reading the taxi minimum as a flat fare: the meter decides anything above it.
• Buying a T1 lounge or Fast Track pass for a T2 flight: neither can be reached from the other terminal.

Barcelona-El Prat guides