Police Break up 'Fights' at Spanish Airport as Passport Queues Spiral Out of Control - Liverpool Echo
- On Wednesday, Madrid-Barajas Airport's Terminal 4 experienced severe delays as passport control queues spiraled out of control amid a surge of passengers.
- The chaos resulted from a combination of high passenger traffic during the summer peak, a one-off computer failure affecting police passport control systems, and an accumulation of flights arriving simultaneously.
- Police and Civil Guard intervened to break up scuffles among frustrated passengers, while Aena staff regulated access to the train connecting Terminal 4 and Terminal 4S to manage crowd flow and security risks.
- Sources reported half of the passport control booths were empty around 11 a.m., causing an average wait time of 60 minutes, and a union spokesman said, 'It is physically impossible' to handle 20 flights with 500 passengers each at once.
- The incident sparked mutual accusations between Spain's Transport and Interior Ministries, alongside demands for the resignation of Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska; a computer malfunction that contributed to the disruption was fixed by 3 p.m., indicating the issue was temporary.
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35 Articles
Hundreds miss flights at Madrid airport due to passport control chaos
A surge in arrivals combined with low staff numbers and a computer failure caused hundreds of international travellers to miss their flights on Wednesday due to huge holdups at passport control at Madrid's Barajas airport.
Fights break out at Madrid-Barajas Airport as passport control 'collapses' - The Mirror
Bottlenecks, scuffles and missed flights plagued Spain's busiest holiday hub after a 'temporary computer failure' crippled border checks during the start of the summer getaway
Hundreds of travellers were left on the ground when the traffic jam at police stations coincided with a large number of international flight departures
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