«Tenerife Sur has to be a first-class airport.”. Rosa Davilapresident of the Cabildo of Tenerife, claims that the also called Reina Sofía has the “maximum quality” because it is “fundamental” for the economic development of the Island. She stated this this Friday during the visit to the headquarters of the insular Corporation of the Minister of Tourism of the Government of the Canary IslandsJessica De Leon.
Administrations and business groups have been demanding the Complete renovation of a Tenerife South airport that will turn 45 years old on October 23 since it was opened to national and international air traffic. After all this time, the infrastructure has become obsolete, especially the terminals and other facilities for users. And that is the second one that moves the most passengers in Canary Islands (10.8 million in 2022) and the seventh in Spain.
latest improvement
The latest improvement of the company that manages the country’s aerodromes, Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA), was inaugurated in May of last year. AENA invested 64 million to link terminal 1 with terminal 2, in such a way that it increased the surface area for security checks and baggage check-in by 50,000 square meters. Thanks to these works, Tenerife South went from having the capacity to accommodate 12 million passengers a year to 16 million.
In parallel, AENA is in the process of comprehensively renovating the entire airport, both the interior and exterior. The last step was taken last July. The board of directors of Spanish Airports and Air Navigation awarded the temporary union of companies formed by Prointec and Efebearquitectura the drafting of the comprehensive remodeling project for the terminals for 3.9 million euros.
It is one of the first steps of a project that AENA describes as “ambitious” to improve the Reina Sofía. The Execution of the plan will involve an investment of more than 300 million euros. The project contemplates the integration of the entire airport terminal area, both from an architectural point of view and with the environment itself.
Tenerife administrations and businessmen consider, however, that the results of these plans will arrive very late – in the most optimistic forecasts, between 2026 and 2030 – and doubt that they will reach the level of improvement that they see as essential for Tenerife’s main airport. , located in the tourist heart of the Island. Previously, Javier Cabrera, president of the Circle of Entrepreneurs and Professionals of the South of Tenerife (CEST), referred to this facility, which urged AENA to “completely reform” the Reina Sofía, “one “one of the most profitable in Spain.”
Tenerife tourism will receive investments worth 32 million euros until 2025 from European Next Generation funds and those of territorial cohesion, which will serve to recover degraded and obsolete areas. Jessica De León explained it after the meeting with Rosa Dávila, in which the vice president and advisor of Tourism of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Lope Afonso, and the general director of Tourism Planning and Promotion of the regional Executive, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, were also present.
12% growth
The Tourism Minister of Canary Islands Government stressed that Tenerife has grown 12% in the number of visitors so far this year and has 10% more airline seats for the coming monthsso a “good winter” is expected, according to statements reported by Europa Press.
The latest data is from August. The Island closed last month with an occupancy rate of 87.7%, the highest in the Tenerife province. According to the Tenerife hotel association (Ashotel), although many reservations were canceled or modified in the last ten days of August in some areas of Tenerife due to the serious fire in the Corona Forestal, the truth is that in the overall balance of the month “it was not felt” in general terms.
