He Ministry of Interior has designed a plan reinforcement of police officers in the big Spanish airports ahead of Holy Week, one of the periods with the highest air traffic in the Spanish market due to the holidays, and after in recent weeks the Spanish airlines have publicly launched complaints about possible problems with queues and long waiting times in the passport controls at some air hubs.
The National Police will allocate 151 additional agents every day for the management of passport control at the six airports with the highest volume of international flight traffic, up to a total of 426 police officers each day, 55% more than regular staffl, as confirmed by EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, from the Prensa Ibérica group, official sources from the Department of the Interior.
The General Commissariat for Immigration and Borders and the different air border posts, at the local level, have carried out specific operational planning to reinforce the number of police officerswho carry out border inspection tasks with extraordinary services in the six older airports.
At the Madrid-Barajas airport, the usual police force will increase by 67%; in Barcelona-El Prat, 41%; in Malaga, there will be 77% more police officers every day; in Alicante, 26% more; in Palma de Mallorca, an additional 35%; and in Tenerife South, the reinforcements will mean 78% more agents during Holy Week, according to the data.
airline complaints
In recent weeks, airlines have reported problems with queues at passport control, particularly at the Madrid-Barajas airport, the largest in the Aena network. A situation that already occurred intermittently in the high seasons of summer and Easter last year, and that now, according to the airlines, has occurred even before the traffic peaks expected for this year in which the number of passengers prior to the pandemic hit will be fully recovered.
The Airlines Association (ALA), The employers’ association that brings together 60 airlines that operate in the Spanish market, complained about the lack of police officers at the Madrid airport to control non-EU travelers, a key task to operate the hundreds of interconnecting flights with Latin America normally. Europe and other Spanish cities that the companies concentrate in Madrid.
Some complaints from the airlines that two weeks ago caused a frontal clash with the Ministry of the Interior, who denounced the “recurring hoaxes” that the airlines spread before the peak seasons to hide their own lack of ground personnel and claimed to have increased by 25% in the last year the number of police officers stationed in Barajas to control passengers on a permanent basis . The department commanded by Fernando Grande-Marlaska It openly blames the airlines for possible queue problems and ensures that it has not had any complaints from passengers in recent weeks due to waiting or missing connecting flights at Barajas.
The airline employers denounced that in just two weeks at Terminal 4 of Barajas, the busiest and where companies such as Iberia and Vueling operate, more than 4,500 passengers had lost their connecting flights due to waiting. The airlines repeatedly demand that the Government immediately assign more police officers to attend to document control tasks.
The tranquility of Aena
From Aena, the manager of Spanish airports and which has the State as the main shareholder with 51%, a message of tranquility is sent about possible problems with queues or long waits during the Easter and summer holidays in the main tourist destinations . “I am very calm”, sentenced the President of AenaMauricio Lucena, this week. “Both Aena and the Police are prepared to manage traffic properly.”
The manager pointed out that “every year there is some type of media event” about the problems in passport controls, but stressed that “the Police put all the troops that have been needed” at peak influx of passengers and that Aena has not received in recent weeks “not a single claim” from passengers for having missed a flight due to queues at controls.