In one of the starkest illustrations yet of the growing divide and resentment between Spain’s tourists and locals, an airport in the Spanish capital is set to restrict public access to its facilities, due to the increasing number of homeless people taking shelter in its terminal buildings.
The move means that at Barajas International, only passengers in possession of boarding passes, their companions, airport staff, or those on official business, will be allowed to access the airport during off-peak periods.
Encampments sheltering hundreds of people
Announcing the measure on 14 May 2025, the national airport operator, AENA, revealed it had repeatedly asked Madrid authorities for assistance in dealing with the encampments that had developed near walls and bathrooms in the airport buildings, where hundreds of individuals without housing have been sheltering. However, the airport operator said, city officials had failed to find a solution.
The itinerant population has now reached a size where it is impacting airport operations and the passenger experience, AENA claims, with accidents, altercations, hygiene, maintenance, and unanticipated footfall in the facilities, all part of the problem.
A decision has therefore been taken because airports “are not places designed for living in, but rather are infrastructure solely for transit, which in no case offers adequate conditions for overnight stays,” AENA said in a statement.
🚨 Madrid's Barajas Airport to close overnight after becoming a 'sleep shelter' for hundreds of homeless individuals. AENA restricts entry to passengers, staff, and authorized persons only, citing unsafe conditions as people camp in terminals and toilets. 🛬 Despite appeals to… pic.twitter.com/xDxgjJyx8b
— Fahad Naim (@Fahadnaimb) May 16, 2025
Safety concerns and vulnerable people
The effort to reduce the number of homeless people in the airport is being described as a matter both of airport security and of public perceptions of security. A press release by AENA said some passengers had reported safety concerns because of the encampments, while airport staff had to deal not only with their day job alongside the responsibility of navigating a vulnerable community.
Hundreds of homeless people occupy #airport terminal in #Spain — Daily Mail
— Uncensored News (@Uncensorednewsw) May 19, 2025
In Spain's largest airport, Madrid-Barajas, the number of homeless individuals has been rapidly increasing, with many using the building as a shelter for over a decade. According to Spanish media, the… pic.twitter.com/8hv5cCaajP
The airport says it is wary of simply displacing the problem elsewhere and is calling for a coordinated approach bringing together social and mental health services, non-profit outreach work, and governmental housing solutions.
At the same time as experiencing a tourism boom that saw a record 94 million visitors in 2024, Spain’s economy remains riddled with issues such as the cost of living and housing. Balancing the needs of locals with a successful tourism sector has risen up the political agenda amid widespread anti-tourism protests. The fact that the country’s homelessness crisis is making itself felt in the second-largest airport in Europe is a sign, as Travel and Tour World suggests, of “a pressing societal issue requiring a unified community response.”
