The Police planned a fixed reinforcement of 500 agents in 12 airports and insists that it has no complaints about delays

They assure that despite Brexit the British use the automatic passport validation control, although in a separate row from the Europeans

MADRID, 7 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Police planned weeks ago a "structural" reinforcement of 500 agents for the permanent staff that provide service in the twelve main airports in Spain, according to sources from this body dependent on the Ministry of the Interior. In addition, they have reiterated that they have "no complaints" about delays in passport stamping controls.

Specifically, and despite criticism for the alleged 15,000 loss of connections that Iberia relates to the lack of agents and the delay in controls, the aforementioned sources maintain that the General Immigration and Borders Commissioner has not received any complaints or from passengers neither from AENA nor from the airlines that operate in Spanish airports.

They also recall that the European Commission authorized the Interior so that British citizens affected after Brexit by the exit of the Schengen Treaty could use automatic controls - known as ABC doors - to speed up the stamping of passports, although in a specific row and without mixing with the rest of the European passengers.

Police sources and the Ministry of the Interior have also referred to regular meetings with AENA once the air traffic that was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic has been recovered. They point out that it was in these appointments that the police device was agreed upon, which since June 20, with 500 troops, complements the deployment in twelve Spanish airports, without specific and additional reinforcements from the mobile border unit or on secondment as indicated by superior headquarters.

Of these 500 policemen who become "structural" in the workforce, 189 will go to the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, 90 will go to Barcelona-El Prat and 50 to Mallorca. The rest of the agents will be deployed in Alicante, Malaga, Valencia, Menorca, Ibiza, Tenerife South, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria.

According to Police calculations with data from AENA, the forecast for flights in 2022 will be slightly lower than 2019, the last year before the pandemic. In the case of Barajas, it will go from 19 million passengers to the 18.7 million expected for this year. Despite this, in Madrid there will be 189 more police officers, adding up to more than 600, which represents an increase of 40%.

Overall, in these years the number of police officers at Spanish airports will increase from 1,456 officials in 2019 to 1,726 in 2022, including the 500 reinforcements here. These are officials who are in charge of controlling the external border, as is the case with the police of the rest of the countries in the Schengen area, but in no case of internal connections within Spain.

To the criticisms of Iberia and the Association of Air Lines (ALA) has been added in the last hours the Table of Tourism of Spain, which already criticized last year the management at the airports of Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. According to this platform, "a situation of chaos" is being experienced, which is why they have requested mediation in the matter from the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto.

The Ministry of the Interior has been denying this extreme since yesterday: "We reiterate that there are no queues or delays that go beyond specific situations generated by the coincidence of several flights coming from outside the Schengen area, and there is no evidence that they have been lost flights, much less the figures of 15,000 that are being spread without any proof, due to incidents in passport control".

The Community of Madrid and the City Council of the capital have also asked for explanations for the criticism of the sector, mainly from ALA, which indicates that some 3,000 passengers lost their flight at the Madrid airport at Easter and, since March 1, 15,000 passengers of Iberia would not have arrived in time to catch their air connection due to delays in controls.