Barcelona airport unable to expand as planes are not allowed to fly over Lionel Messi’s mansion

El Prat is one of Europe’s busiest hubs and airline bosses were hoping to add extra runways to allow more flights to come in and out of the Catalan city.

Barcelona airport unable to expand as planes are not allowed to fly over Lionel Messi’s mansion

Messi lives in an area called Castelldefels – along with a host of Barcelona stars. It’s a desirable neighbourhood located just 10km from the airport.

Despite being on the outskirts of the city, the area has an environmental restriction over it meaning planes are unable to fly above where the Argentinian star lives.

Javier Sanchez-Prieto, the president of Vueling, a budget Spanish airline, has said the expansion just can’t happen “because you cannot pass over where Messi lives.”

Clearly frustrated by the denial of a money-making opportunity, the chief added: “This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world.”

The area of Castelldefels is just a 12-mile drive from the Camp Nou and is home to several Barcelona players, including Philippe Coutinho who recently bought a house in the area.

Luis Suarez lives just around corner, as does Croatian Ivan Rakitic who revealed last month that Messi was so fed up with his neighbours making noise – he bought their house to get some peace and quiet.

“I did not have any problems with the neighbours,” he said. “Not like Messi in Castelldefels – he had to buy his house from the neighbours because they were noisy and so he could be alone.”