AENA restringe acceso al Aeropuerto de Barajas para personas sin billete y sin techo

AENA takes measures at Barajas Airport regarding the situation of the 421 homeless people who live and spend the night in T4. The airport manager is, on one hand, disinfecting hallways, furniture, and check-in belts to eradicate bedbugs, ticks, and cockroaches in the area following complaints from several workers who have been bitten.

Additionally, AENA is not allowing access to the terminal without a ticket and is also not permitting NGOs that distribute food to these 421 individuals to enter.

Among the most visible actions are, in addition to access restrictions, changes in air conditioning to make overnight stays more uncomfortable, and the removal of furniture, such as benches, in the most frequented areas of the terminal.

Center workers claim to have been bitten. They denounce the dirt and unsanitary conditions caused by the people living at the airport.

Madrid political battle

Once again, the issue of homeless people living at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport has become a political battleground between the involved administrations, with no solution in sight.

The Government Delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín, has expressed his hope that the City Council and the Community of Madrid will assume their responsibility and offer «a dignified solution» to these individuals because, in his opinion, Barajas Airport «cannot continue to be the city’s municipal shelter.»

Local and regional administrations in Madrid have called on the central government to address the situation of these homeless individuals.

Madrid’s Deputy Mayor, Inma Sanz, has described as «regrettable» the involvement of the Spanish Government in the situation where five hundred homeless people live at Barajas Airport and has called on Pedro Sánchez to fully engage in finding a solution.

On the other hand, the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has stated that Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport is in an «unacceptable and unbecoming situation for a country like ours» and has urged the Government not to allow that image of Spain created by the homeless people spending the night at the Madrid airport.