El Prat for the city, Girona for the Costa Brava
El Prat takes almost every private flight into Barcelona: ten kilometres south-west of the city, twenty to thirty minutes from Passeig de Gràcia, with a terminal and a ramp kept for business aviation, border control and customs around the clock, and room for every cabin up to a VIP airliner. Girona-Costa Brava, an hour and a quarter up the coast, is the airport for S'Agaró, Begur and the houses of the Empordà; Reus serves Tarragona and Salou. Sabadell, north of the city, is short, daytime and Schengen-only, so it suits a turboprop or a helicopter rather than a jet.
Summer is the season to plan. From June to September El Prat keeps aircraft of 15 tonnes or less, which means every light and midsize jet, out of the 9 am to 1.30 pm arrival window, and opens general aviation slots only 30 days ahead, so we set the arrival time and book the return with the outbound. From Barcelona, Ibiza is forty-five minutes by light jet, and Nice and Madrid about an hour each.