Many people may not know that planes are forbiden from flying over the area Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi’s house is located in Barcelona and a new report has explained why.
Back in March 2018, Spanish airline, Vueling entered into an unplanned altercation with Football star Lionel Messi’s fans when the airline’s president Javier Sánchez-Prieto said in an interview that planes weren’t allowed to fly over Messi’s House in EL Prat Barcelona, and because of that, El Prat’s airport wouldn’t develop or expand.
Sánchez-Prieto was busy explaining why a plan to expand to Barcelona’s El Prat airport was being held up and casually remarked; “You cannot pass over where Messi lives.” ”This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world.”
The comments generated a lot of negative reaction on social media against the airline and the airline was forced to issue an apology to the footballer and anyone that might have been hurt by their president’s remarks.
People on social media started questioning why Lionel Messi’s mansion, located in El Prat, Barcelona was a no fly zone, and after a year and seven months, AS magazine has published a report explaining why airlines don’t fly over Messi’s house.
According to AS, Barcelona’s airport is under environmental restrictions, and planes entering from El Prat into the Barcelona stadium have to take a different turn-around route to protect endangered fauna and flora species.
According to Spanish daily, AS;
‘As might have been expected, the answer was rather more straightforward than Messi instructing El Prat not to interrupt his siesta.’
‘The Barcelona captain lives in the municipality of Gavà, about 25km outside of Barcelona and inside the Parque Natural del Garraf, an area protected under Spanish environmental legislation and that contains endangered flora and fauna.’
‘Therefore, planes arriving at and leaving El Prat have to make a small detour out into the Mediterranean to bypass the area, which also answers that question for anybody who has flown to Barcelona and wondered why that 180º turn is necessary.’ 
