Madrid Airport is set to take drastic action to limit access to the airport between the hours of 9pm to 5am to ticket holders only, as the city faces an ongoing homeless problem
An airport in Spain has made a drastic change to battle the number of people sleeping rough in its terminals overnight, after returning from working in the city. Madrid Barajas-Airport is struggling under the weight of 400 people sleeping rough, with many going out to work in the day and returning each night to sleep.
In response, the airport has hired a private security firm to address the growing number of homeless individuals sleeping overnight in its terminals. The airport operator, AENA, has reinforced its security staff and limited access to the terminals during night time hours, particularly in Terminal 4, to authorised personnel and ticket holders, BirminghamLive reported.
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The new measures include restricting access to only five access points during the hours of 9pm and 5am. Only five access points across Terminals 1, 2, and 3 and four in Terminal 4 will remain open.
To address what Aena has called “unsafe and unhealthy” conditions, the airport operator has reinforced its private security staff by deploying 22 additional officers to enforce the new entry restrictions.
Israel Vellisca, spokesperson for the Federation of Mobility and Consumer Services (Fesmc) of the UGT Madrid, said: “This is not a train or metro station with set closure hours.”
“This is a social problem, not a labour issue. Madrid Airport is the first and last image tourists have of Spain.
“We need a long-term, humane solution that involves public institutions, social organizations, and proper support services.”
Union sources added: “Any restriction on access to a public space must be justified and documented.”
The City of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) union section in the airport authority Aena group has warned of ‘the serious situation both workers and airport users have been suffering for months, due to the continued and growing presence of homeless people staying in various areas of the airport facilities, especially in the passenger terminals and transit areas.’
The union says in recent months they have received “multiple complaints from workers from different groups, including cleaning, security, handling, customer service, shops, and catering, alleging unsanitary conditions, persistent smells, the use of restrooms as overnight areas, accumulation of belongings, occasional aggression, and a lack of effective intervention by the competent authorities.”