Nuremberg – Leoni, the leading provider of cable systems to the automotive sector and other industries, has equipped Barcelona Airport’s recently opened Terminal T1 with special supply cables, both for stationery installation and mobile application. Patented, highly resistant and at the same time extremely flexible high-voltage cables that supply the aircraft with power on the ground were thus installed at all gates with passenger boarding bridges.

Leoni supplied several kilometres of its BETAjet Deltaflex high-voltage cable via its subsidiary, Leoni Iberica, for Barcelona Airport, which is operated by publicly-owned AENA. They are fitted at the gates of the new, recently opened Terminal T1 and supply aircraft with electrical power while they are on the ground. The cables are used in two ways: On the one hand, they are installed as a stationary feeder cable and conduct power from the transformers to the underground pits on the ramp. On the other hand, they are flexibly connecting the plane with the pit. To do so the cables are drawn from pits and plugged directly into the aircraft’s socket without any interconnection.

This permits ongoing use of aircraft electronics, air conditioning, lighting, galleys and other consumers of electricity – entirely without running aviation fuel-consuming jet engines or auxiliary power units. That is an advantage for airport operators and airlines alike, since minimising CO₂, reducing emissions and improving efficiency are becoming more and more important issues nowadays.

For their use at departure gates the cables employed have to fulfil two conditions above all. Given that the cables are frequently dragged across the ground and are thereby exposed to severe mechanical strain, the first is extremely high resistance to abrasion. The other requirement is great flexibility to rapidly connect the aircraft and for easy stowing in the underground pit.

The 400 Hertz BETAjet cable used at Barcelona Airport has these difficult-to-combine properties. It is extremely robust thanks to the use of special materials and processes. Its patented, twisted-symmetrical 3-conductor coaxial construction simultaneously eases handling and, furthermore, guarantees minor as well as consistent voltage loss even across lengths of more than 15 metres.

Barcelona Airport’s Terminal T1 was built in the south of the site for about EUR 1.2 billion and has a size of more than 500,000 square metres. It is to be connected to the public transport system by 2014 and to master the rising volume of traffic. T1 has 101 gates, 43 passenger boarding bridges, 166 check-in counters, 12,000 parking spaces and can handle up to 25 million passengers a year.

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