Travelers flying from Madrid Barajas Airport could face extra checks and restrictions getting inside the terminal buildings because of a growing homelessness problem that is starting to plague the airport.
The situation has been getting steadily worse over the last few months, and the number of homeless people now camping inside the airport overnight has grown to around 500.
Spain’s national airport, Aena, has been urging the Madrid City Council to take action for weeks, but late on Wednesday, the airport operator said it had become increasingly frustrated with the perceived lack of action.
Aena is now threatening to take legal action against the municipality if it doesn’t do more to support the homeless people camping inside the airport, while new control measures will soon be enforced to access the terminals.
During quieter times, Aena will deploy security guards to the terminal entrances, and access will be restricted to airport workers, along with passengers who can show their boarding passes, as well as accompanying family members.
“Aena has repeatedly expressed publicly its concern for the social situation of this vulnerable group,” the airport operator said following its decision to impose access restrictions.
“Airports are not places prepared for habitation but are exclusively transit infrastructures, which in no case have adequate conditions for overnight stays.”
In a lengthy statement, Aena blasted the city council’s lack of action.
“The airport manager warned the Madrid City Council and the Community of Madrid months ago that the number of people spending the night in the airport facilities was increasing and that both institutions had to solve it,” the statement explained.
“The action taken by Madrid City Council in recent months has been clearly insufficient and, moreover, public statements by its political leaders have confirmed the neglect of its functions.”
Aena has been under pressure to address the growing homeless encampment that springs up each night at Madrid Barajas after a transport union representing workers at the airport demanded that something be done.
Workers complained that they were being harassed and that crime was occurring amongst the homeless people in the airport.
In recent days, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo stated that Aena had called in specialist cleaning teams to fumigate parts of the airport, including check-in desks, because of the homelessness situation.
Bokatas, a non-profit organization that helps homeless people in Madrid, said Aena had accused the airport of exasperating the situation by offering food to some of the people camping inside the terminal buildings.
On Wednesday, Bokatas said it would no longer be commenting on its work at Madrid Barajas after being hounded by the media.
While many travelers assume that airport terminals are open 24 hours a day and allow passengers to camp overnight, especially if they have a very early flight, the truth is that some airports do, in fact, close and will turf anyone out.
There’s even a website dedicated to sleeping in airports in which travelers share their own experiences. The website, aptly named Sleeping in Airports, provides user-curated information on whether an airport is open 24 hours or whether they’ll evict travelers who have nowhere else to go.
Airports that do close at night include Eindhoven and Turin, while some airports like Venice Marco Polo aren’t open 24 hours but will let you sleep in the terminal overnight so long as you arrive before security lock the doors.
