Queue at Ryanair check-in at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport this Monday.
Javier Barroso
A security guard flanks the access gates of the T-2 of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport. The message that he repeats to everyone who approaches that point already sounds like a string of words: "Only people with a boarding pass or those accompanying minors can enter." Some people are surprised by the measure and say goodbye under a blazing sun. Inside the terminal, two things attract the attention of the visitor. One, the absence of travelers. On a typical August day, thousands of people would gather in the departure area. And as a consequence of it, the second. The silence. You only hear a few conversations and you miss the multitude of languages that were heard at check-in.
However, Barajas is gradually resuming activity, thanks in part to vaccination and the covid passport.
The first engine of the regional economy tries to overcome a disastrous year 2020 in which it was practically converted into an aircraft parking and a reception center for medical supplies, especially from China.
The huge Boeing 747 planes loaded to the top and in which more than one politician took the welcome photo was the main activity of the airport.
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Barajas represents 10% of the gross domestic product and generates 40,000 jobs, according to Aena studies.
This directly, because indirectly sectors as different as public transport -especially taxis and VTC-, restaurants, hotels, shops and everything related to tourism live from their activity.
The figures for the first half of the year confirm that the airport has had 6.5 million travelers, which is 42.5% compared to the same period last year.
It should be remembered that the state of alarm was decreed on March 14, 2020 and that until then Barajas was at full capacity.
Far away are the 61.7 million passengers that there were in all of 2019.
Of those 6.5 million travelers in 2021, the majority are international (3.7) compared to nationals (2.8).
“International traffic is recovering more slowly than that from the rest of Europe or domestic (national), as it is more linked to mobility limitations derived from the health situation.
The Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport is the main gateway to Latin America from Europe with 25.8% of its market share;
This importance is closely related to the large number of routes established between the Airport and Latin America;
There are also connections with Asia, mainly with China, as well as with the Middle East ”, Aena sources highlight.
Escalators to access T-3 at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport this Monday.
Javier Barroso
The aircraft user curve is increasing month by month.
Thus, in April there were 986,136 and in May they grew to almost 1.3 million.
The number of operations has also decreased in the first half of this year to stand at 75,000 (20% less), while the number of goods transported has grown by 18.5% (229.7 million kilograms), according to Aena data.
Since last July 1, terminals T2 and T3, which were closed during the pandemic, were reopened.
In this way, the entire airport is operational, which during the hard months of the COVID was reduced to T4.
On July 28, satellite T4 resumed its activity.
"Infrastructure adjustments have been modulated according to the evolution of traffic," explain sources from Aena.
However, a walk through the terminals is a bit sad. The corridors are empty and the hundreds of check-in points, without activity. Green ribbons -the corporate color of Spanish airports- delimit the accesses to the delivery of suitcases, but without necessity. There are no passengers to fill them. They only crowd into very specific points such as the Ryanair terminals, in T1, and at some point of large transoceanic flights in T-4, especially Iberia or Latin American airlines, such as Peru.
All of this is taking its toll on businesses, some of which are on the verge of closing. This is the case of the Enrique Tomás ham and Iberian products shop, at the T4 exits. Their clientele has dropped dramatically and they only have some movement in the mornings, especially American and Canadian tourists, according to the clerk Yudilaidi Pérez Pérez, a 38-year-old Cuban who has been in this place for two years. “Before the pandemic and especially in the store inside, in the
dutyfree
store,
we
did not stop selling. Now there are some good days like Mondays, some Thursdays and some Fridays ”, acknowledges this employee, who has been in Spain for 12 years.
Something similar happens with something as helpful as pharmacies. The one in T2 and which remained open during the confinement to serve the few passengers at that time and all the staff closed last December, according to airport sources. The one that is open is the one located in the departures area of T1. Of course, in this summer month it is attended by only one person, Anna Escalona. "I have improved a lot since the two terminals opened and there are more people and sales than during confinement," acknowledges the nursing assistant. Of course, the long queues that existed before the pandemic and that allowed up to four people to work at the same time are no longer formed. “Now there are Spanish, Portuguese, French, English and, to a much lesser extent, Dutch tourists.The busiest days are Fridays and Sundays ”, explains Escalona. During the pandemic, they mainly cared for cabin personnel who made long trips to China to bring medical supplies. They came and went in a matter of two or three days, with little rest. "They asked for a lot of painkillers and creams for inflammations," says the assistant.
Planes stations at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport on April 27, 2020, in the midst of a pandemic.ADOLFO BARROSO
The situation, however, is only likely to improve in the coming months, according to sources in the sector consulted by EL PAÍS. Aena is committed to the fact that "progress in the vaccination process" contributes "significantly" to the recovery of the confidence of the passenger on the plane. The implementation of the Covid-19 Certificate of the European Union (EU) will also contribute to this. “The main European airlines are confident that there will be an increase in demand in the second part of the summer season. However, it is still difficult to accurately forecast the evolution of traffic for the coming months, as airlines make changes to their operations on a regular basis, depending on the variation in mobility limitations ”, Aena sources confirm.
Iberia, one of the main airlines operating in Barajas, is in the same line as the Barajas direction. The company's Commercial and Network and Alliance Development Director, María Jesús López Solás, highlights that "the advance in vaccination and the progressive opening of borders" is allowing the number of flights to be recovered. “We have made a strong commitment for this summer, increasing frequencies, recovering destinations to countries where restrictions allow it, including most of our network in Latin America and also in the US. We are even going to launch flights to destinations where we have not flown until now, such as the Maldives, Ljubljana or the Azores Islands ”, describes the directive. "The data will still be far from what we obtained in 2019 but, in summer,We expect to reach 60% of the capacity we offered in 2019. We will offer 114 destinations around the world, 90 in Europe and Africa and 24 in America. This translates into direct and daily flights to the main Spanish cities and a great commitment especially to the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands ”, he adds.
López Solás points out that only flying to destinations has stopped, there are restrictions that prevent flying, such as Japan: “However, although the operation is not regular, we do organize special flights. In fact, we have taken the Spanish delegation to the Tokyo Olympics. And to China we offer charter flights every Tuesday to Shanghai and every Friday to Hangzhou. " "Our objective has always been threefold: to maintain Spain's connectivity with the world, to take care of the relationship with our clients, helping them in these adverse circumstances and to maintain employment", he concludes.
Iberia's low-cost company and direct competition, Ryanair, is at this point a bit more ambitious in its return to normalcy. It has put up for sale 70% of the usual offer in Barajas, according to data provided by the Ryanair Sales and Marketing manager for Spain and Portugal, Susana Brito: “We confirm our commitment to Madrid and its autonomous community with more than 250 flights weekly on 46 routes to the most popular national and international destinations this summer (until the end of October) ”. That for now, because they recognize that the number could increase if demand rises in the coming weeks. “As vaccination campaigns continue to progress successfully and travel restrictions are relaxed in the coming weeks, we remain very optimistic and believe that stocks are going to skyrocket.Ryanair will offer 5.3 million seats this summer, which will help boost air traffic in the region and contribute to the recovery of the tourism sector and the Spanish economy, ”concludes Brito.
While this is happening, the Barajas car parks are idling.
If before you had to go to the farthest parking lots, especially on these dates with a high number of arrivals and departures, now you can park your vehicle in the spaces closest to the terminals.
In addition, a simple glance from the terminals or on the airport roads reveals that there are almost no planes on the runways.
Some sides of the T4 are without aircraft.
Looking up at the sky also does not allow us to see in the distance up to four or five aircraft ready to land or two or three that had just taken off.
The cadence is very slow, almost like a medium or small airport in its best moments.
Baggage claim and passenger departure area of the T-4 of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport this Monday.ADOLFO BARROSO
In the lead and with future investments like El Prat
Barajas tops the list of the 48 airports in Spain in all categories (passengers, operations and goods), according to Aena data.
Its usual competitor, El Prat de Barcelona, remains in some of these classifications in third place behind Palma de Mallorca and even Zaragoza.
The latter is the second in the movement of goods, only behind the Madrid.
The flagship of the Madrid economy received approval at the beginning of July to receive investments for an amount of 1,694 million euros in the period from 2025 to 2029. This amount is similar to the one that El Prat will receive. But with differences. In the case of Barcelona, the Government of the Generalitat and the City Council of Barcelona are not aligned with the future expansion. On the contrary, Barajas does have the approval of all the Administrations involved in its operation.
The so-called Madrid Airport Coordination Committee, created in 2013, welcomes representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Government Delegation in Madrid, the regional Executive, local Corporations, the Chamber of Commerce, economic and social organizations and the own Aena.
All of them approved the Airport Regulation Document (DORA), the last step before processing the investment plan.
All of them want to turn Barajas into an intercontinental nerve center, especially with Latin America.
"This can only be achieved by providing services of a high level of quality and safety, maintaining the commitment to innovation as a guarantee of competitiveness and sustainable growth", Aena sources acknowledge.
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