The airport Tenerife Sur-Reina Sofía was opened to national air traffic on October 23, 1978.. They are fulfilled today 45 years from that date, starting point of a capital infrastructure in the subsequent future of the south of Tenerife and the island, as a whole. On November 2 of the same year it began to receive international traffic. The path that has taken it to its current results and dimensions had begun, and that now places it in a future with new challenges.
«As far as infrastructure is concerned, Tenerife South Airport is already immersed in a comprehensive remodeling process.explains the director of the aerodrome, Juan Carlos Peg. The objective, he details, is that these works end up converting the southern site into “modern infrastructures, in line with the territory they serve and focused on quality, innovation and sustainability.”
The facility is located in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona and its official inauguration, by Queen Sofía, took place on November 6, 1978. In its first year of operation it exceeded one million passengers, according to the Airports website. Spanish and Air Navigation (AENA). The productive schemes for the south of the Island began to change. This is how Emiliano Guillén, official chronicler of Granadilla since 1999 and a deep connoisseur of the vicissitudes of the southern region, remembers it.
Rise of the tertiary sector
«It was important for the change in the south of Tenerife and for the transition to the tertiary sector. Traditional agriculture was abandoned, although it was partially maintained,” explains Guillén. His gaze through time recalls a Granadilla de Abona that began to develop and, especially, in the low areas, such as San Isidro. That, in his opinion, also had another side: “A whirlwind of construction, of sales, of increase in land prices… and, furthermore, in an exaggerated way.”
The Tenerife South Airport sought to cover a need. «Until the 1970s, the island of Tenerife only had one airport. At the end of the 70s, on the occasion of the visit of the Minister of Air to the works of the Los Rodeos Airport (today Tenerife North), the island authorities raised the need to choose a new location due to the meteorological inconveniences, which prevented the existing airport meet the appropriate technical conditions,” explains AENA.
That led to the beginning of the process that led to the construction of the southern airfield. “With the support of the Ministry for this proposal, the Island Council began the purchase of land in the municipalities of Granadilla and San Miguel de Abona,” recalls the state company. Subsequently, on May 29, 1970, the occupation of the assets necessary for the construction of the Airport and its complementary facilities was declared of public and urgent utility.
«In the month of July 1973, the Ministry of Air awarded the airfield project for an amount close to 450 million pesetas. Throughout 1976, the works on the taxiway and interchanges, the power plant, earthworks and development of the terminal area were successively awarded. And during 1977, the works on the control tower, the installation of beacons on the main runway, the taxiway and the terminal building were finally awarded,” the story continues. AENA.
Finally, It was on October 23, 1978 when Tenerife South was opened to national civil air traffic, while it was opened to international traffic on November 2., with a permanent schedule and the consideration of a special first category airport. “That day, at 10:17 a.m., the first plane landed at the airport, an Iberia DC-9 that was making the flight,” AENA says about the beginnings.
Although the activity was already underway, it was not really inaugurated. That milestone took place on November 6, 1978. «At 11:15 a.m. the Mystere plane, from the Undersecretary of Civil Aviation, landed at the Tenerife South Airport, in which Her Majesty Queen Sofia, which was received by the Minister of Transportation, Salvador Sánchez Terán, and other local and provincial authorities. After receiving the honors of ordinance, we proceeded to visit the passenger terminal facilities, which were blessed by the bishop of Tenerife, Luis Franco Cascón,” states the AENA website.
On the cover of THE DAY On October 24, 1978, the news passed with more pain than glory. “The Reina Sofía Airport is a special first category,” was stated on one side and in a few modules. “An order from the Ministry of Transport and Communications on the opening of the Reina Sofía Airport, in Tenerife-Sur, appears today in the Official State Gazette,” it was noted.
When the news had the most impact was on November 7, 1978, one day after Queen Sofia attended the inauguration. “Queen Sofia inaugurated the South Airport”, headlined this newspaper. «Her Majesty Queen Sofia inaugurated the Tenerife-Sur Airport yesterday, which will be named after her. A large crowd from all the towns in the Granadilla area and surrounding areas, where the Airport has been built, gathered (…)”, the aforementioned information continued.
“It has been fundamental”
The mayor of Granadilla de Abona, Jennifer Miranda, points out that the Airport has been “fundamental” in the development of the municipality. «Not only because it is the gateway for millions of passengers, with what that entails, but, fundamentally, because it is one of the infrastructures that most employment generates,” explains the councilor, before adding: “There are many residents of Granada who work or have worked at the Airport, directly or indirectly.”
Its path to the future continues with the works that are planned. Months ago it was known that The Board of Directors of Spanish Airports and Air Navigation awarded, to the temporary union of companies formed by Prointec and Efebearquitectura, the drafting of the comprehensive remodeling project for the Tenerife South Airport terminals for 3.9 million euros. The above is one of the first steps of a project that AENA describes as “ambitious” to improve the Reina Sofía. At the end of last July it was published that the execution of the plan would involve an initial investment of more than 300 million euros, as well as that the project contemplates the integration of the entire Airport terminal, both from an architectural point of view and with the environment itself. Despite some doubts expressed by institutions on the Island and from the business sector, for AENA the proposal it proposes is appropriate. In more detail, among the improvements planned, and pending the drafting of the project, are the organization and execution of new parking and accesses, the review of urbanization and landscaping, the adaptation of the baggage claim room, the expansion of the check-in and boarding areas and the incorporation of more commercial services. In addition to the project commission, the state commercial company also plans to tender complementary actions for technical assistance for the baggage and aircraft handling system, for an amount of 1.7 million euros. In the statement it sent at that time AENA assured that it is making “an enormous investment effort” to offer “modern infrastructure, in line with the territory they serve and focused on quality, innovation and sustainability” at the Reina Sofía. In those days it was indicated that in Tenerife North the company was finalizing the procedures to hire technical assistance for architecture and project drafting for the expansion of its facilities. Days ago he announced that it is already in bidding.
An infrastructure in the process of improvement
Juan Carlos Peg has been the director of Tenerife South Airport since May 2022. During this time he has witnessed various improvement works at the aerodrome, while others are underway. “In 2022, a new building connecting the two existing terminals was put into service and processes were adapted, the result of a renovation that began in 2017, with a global investment of 159.4 million euros,” explains a professional who has accumulated 23 years of service in Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA). And he continues: «This has allowed the entire operation to be carried out in a single terminal, since what was T2 was adapted to boarding processes, new security filters were installed and this area was provided with more space and natural light. , new boarding bridges, the flow of departures was readjusted without changes in level and the commercial offer was expanded, since the surface area was increased by 55%, going from 90,000 to 140,000 square meters, and going from a capacity of 13 million passengers a year to 16 million. The performances continue today. “We have recently been awarded technical assistance in drafting the project and technical assistance in architecture to carry out a project that contemplates the integration of the entire terminal area of the Airport, both from an architectural point of view and with the environment itself,” he points out. . «Among the planned improvements, and pending the drafting of the final project, are the planning and execution of new parking lots and accesses; the review of urbanization and landscaping; the adequacy of the baggage claim room; “the expansion of check-in and boarding areas, or the incorporation of more commercial services,” he explains about the upcoming actions. | D.R.
