unday marked the first day of strike action at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport in the Spanish capital, where “endless queues” and plenty of disruption are being reported
Brits heading for Spain are being warned of major chaos at its biggest airport, with passengers facing security delays of up to an hour and a half.
Sunday marked the first day of strike action at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, where “endless queues” are being reported. Unions say the strike is “indefinite and full-time”. The disruption has continued this morning, with images circulating online showing crowded corridors and jammed conveyor belts. Antena3 reports that lines have ‘exploded’.
Passengers have expressed dismay after finding themselves caught up in the chaos. “What’s happening at Barajas Airport at this hour? Kilometre-long lines (and this isn’t an exaggeration) to get through security at Terminal 4. Passengers are very nervous about missing their flights,” said Felix Millán on X where he posted pictures of the queues.
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Passenger control staff, managed by the Trablisa company and with about 800 personnel, began their full-time action on Sunday after negotiations to improve their working conditions failed.
The workers say their work is at a saturation level and demand salary improvements and specific compensation for this service. Alejandro Corredera Arriaga, spokesperson and member of the Madrid strike committee, said the volume of work at Barajas “far exceeds” that of other Spanish airports.
Among other demands, the passenger security guards demand at least equal conditions, such as the summer bonus paid for similar work at Palma de Mallorca, also managed by Trablisa. They also want a “danger” bonus, similar to that paid to explosives guards, when carrying out their work in a critical infrastructure such as an airport, in a context in which Spain has maintained level 4 of anti-terrorist alert since 2015.
Delays are occurring in all the terminals of the Madrid airport, both in the standard access to the passenger filter and the preferential one, known as ‘fast track’. At 9am on Sunday, the waiting time in Barajas was around 95 minutes, compared to the usual ten.
Passengers have been reporting “endless queues that reach the entrances and exits of the airport.”
The Spanish airport authority AENA has warned travellers of possible delays. To try to alleviate this situation, from the first hour, it has placed assistants in the metro hall of the old terminals and in other areas to divert passengers to T2 and T3 in the face of the collapse in the rest of the terminals.
“Due to a strike by Trablisa security personnel at Madrid-Barajas Airport, security clearance times may be longer. We apologise for the inconvenience,” said AENA in a statement.
The industrial action in Madrid is far from the only bit of aviation-related strike chaos due to take place this month.
In Italy, a 24-hour strike by airport handling staff at Milan Linate and Milano Malpensa Airport has been called on September 26. Security staff at Cagliari Elmas Airport are also planning 24 hours of industrial action on the same day.
In France, air traffic controllers in France are planning a strike in September after talks over pay between their union, SNCTA, and their employer, the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), broke down.
The strike will last from September 18–19 and is expected to cause disruption to a huge number of flights. Even those who aren’t flying to or from France could be impacted, as so many flights follow routes over France.
Airports across Spain will be impacted by strikes over labour rights by Azul Handling baggage staff, which is part of the Ryanair Group. The firm handles the bags for the majority of the operator’s flights. Its unionised members have planned actions from 5am to 9am, on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for the rest of 2025.
The affected airports are Alicante, Barcelona, Girona, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Madrid, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Tenerife South and Valencia.