Chaos at German airports – Spain is better

Ryanair and Easyjet are on strike in Spain. The DW correspondent reports, however, that no chaos has been caused, as unfortunately happens in Germany.

The infrastructure in Spain is in several cases more modern than in Germany, mainly thanks to the financial aid of the EU, which Spain joined in 1986. Spain also has the advantage that after the pandemic subsided railways and airports quickly returned in normality, says an executive of a German company specializing in the processing of baggage for airports and airlines.

It is also interesting that, because Spain lives on tourism, everything reopened gradually from the summer of 2020. The population was vaccinated in record time to avoid another lockdown. It is no coincidence that already last year Spain received 50% of 2019 passengers at its airports. And for this reason Spanish airports have fewer financial problems today. In addition, all airports are managed by the partly state-owned company Aena, which simplifies coordination.

Since Spain joined the EU, Madrid has allocated a lot of European funds to roads, railways and airports. According to an analysis by economists Santiago Alvarez García and Juan José Guerrero from the University of Oviedo and the autonomous region of Castilla la Mancha, EU structural aid to Spain totals €160 billion. Decades of investment in infrastructure will pay off by the summer of 2022 at the latest. It should be noted that in terms of security at airports, train stations and highways, Spain is among the top European countries.

Police officers help where needed

Just ten years ago, the terrorist activity of the Basque separatist organization ETA ended in Spain. Since the era of terrorism the country has more than 250,000 police officers. Per 100,000 inhabitants this is the highest average in the EU. In case of emergency, police and soldiers can be deployed with great flexibility in every corner of Spain. This was done for example during the pandemic, during the extreme weather events in the winter of 2021 or after the volcanic eruption in La Palma.

In June, after some difficulties with passport control at Madrid airport, additional police forces were moved to the country’s 12 largest airports. Of course there were and still are delays and queues at Spanish airports. But this is mainly due to strikes by ground staff at Ryanair and Easyjet, but also to the chaos at regional airports.

Lufthansa got state aid, but laid off staff

On the plus side, Spain’s national carrier Iberia and airport operator Aena cut fewer jobs during the pandemic than Germany’s Lufthansa and many German airports. “Despite generous state aid, the Lufthansa Group has cut too many jobs,” says Swiss expert and management consultant Andre Doze.

German lawyer Tim Wirth, who lives in Majorca, says that “in Palma, the airport has set itself the goal of ensuring that no one has to wait more than ten minutes for a security check. With few exceptions this will be the case this summer as well “, he adds.

The German lawyer adds that when it comes to dealing with the pandemic, his German clients are often surprised when they come to the island. The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, had already stated already in the spring of 2021 that in the future, Covid19 will be treated like the flu. Since the beginning of the year, there is no longer a quarantine for patients with coronavirus. In Germany, on the other hand, the authorities are already considering the possible imposition of measures as well as restrictions such as the mandatory use of masks since the autumn.

Stephanie-Claudia Miller

Editor: Stefanos Georgakopoulos

Source: Deutsche Welle