Madrid’s airport serves as home to at least 30 people, although the number rises in winter.
Similar to other airports such as Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle, homeless people are drawn to the warmth, and free bathrooms, as well as the chance to beg or earn tips from pushing luggage trolleys.
Meals can be had at soup kitchens in neighbourhoods not too distant from the airport.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport is the fifth busiest in Europe, transporting 40 million passengers ever year.
As a public space, the authorities let the homeless sleep there as long as they do not stir up trouble.
Police say there are at least 30 people sleeping permanently in terminal 4, but the number goes up in the winter. Two days before Christmas, officers said they counted 42.
Some of the men come from Spain while others are originally from other continents. Many are the victim’s of Spain’s high (24%) unemployment which increased poverty in the nation.
The latest official statistics count 23,000 homeless people in the country, but charities estimate the real figure is closer to 40,000.
