The new South terminal will cost more than 300 million

The Board of Directors of AENA will approve, at its next meeting, 1.7 million for its equipment and 6.3 million euros to finance the drafting of the integral remodeling project of the Tenerife Sur Airport, “both exterior and interior, with a new functionality of operating processes and complementary actions. In short, a new building that symbolizes what this Island is when it comes to welcoming its visitors”, said the minister.

In any case, the amount of the final investment will be conditioned by the project itself, in whose execution no expense will be spared. This was announced by Pedro Martín, president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, to the mayors of Arico (Sebastián Martín), Granadilla de Abona (José Domingo Regalado), Vilaflor (Agustina Beltrán), San Miguel de Abona (Arturo González), Arona (José Julián Mena), Adeje (José Miguel Rodríguez), Guía de Isora (Josefa Mesa), Santiago del Teide (Emilio Navarro) and Candelaria (Mari Brito). He held a previous meeting with them to present details of the technical basis that defines the Tenerife Sur Airport that is intended to be built – defined by technicians from the Cabildo and AENA – and which will govern the international competition to be held during the summer.

The comprehensive remodeling work of the Reina Sofía will be equivalent to integrating the entire current terminal (made up of three buildings) from an architectural point of view and with the environment. At the expense of the drafting of the final project, the planned improvements include the reorganization and execution of new car parks and accesses, the revision of the urbanization and landscaping, the adaptation of the baggage claim room, the expansion of the check-in areas and boarding and the incorporation of more commercial services, according to AENA.

The minister highlighted the “spirit” of collaboration and consensus with which AENA and the institutions of the Islands work – “with the Government of the Canary Islands and, especially, with the Cabildo de Tenerife”, she said. She was convinced that “the new terminal will meet all the requirements for a decisive infrastructure for tourism.” That is, “quality, sustainability and innovation”.

Link Terminal in use

Yesterday, the Tenerife Sur Airport put the Link Terminal into service. “This is a very special moment for AENA,” said Mario Otero, director of Grupo Canarias. A building linking terminals 1 (dating from 1978) and 2 (dating from 2009). It configures “the largest extension in the history of Tenerife South”, with an investment of 64.9 million euros. This will make it possible to optimize the quality of the service, with much more agile and comfortable processes so that “the traveler’s experience will be much better, more functional and practical”. The incorporation of these facilities will increase the terminal area by 50,000 square meters and increase its capacity from 13 to 16 million passengers per year.

The Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda toured the facilities before presiding over the opening ceremony of the Tenerife Sur Airport terminal, which began with Benito Cabrera on timple and Tomás Fariña on guitar. After the welcome pronounced by Mario Otero, Raquel Sánchez defined the infrastructure put into operation yesterday as “essential and strategic”. She recalled that it is part of the 160 million euro investment that AENA made in the Reina Sofía from 2017 to 2021 (DORA I) “to build the Link Terminal, adapt the rest of the infrastructure and in the airport processes”. The extension inaugurated yesterday “will have a clear impact not only in Tenerife, but in the whole of the Archipelago”.

Praise to work

The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, stressed that yesterday’s event was “an act of the present thinking about the future”, alluding to the coincidence of the commissioning of the extension of the terminal and the announcement of the construction of the comprehensive remodeling of “a capital airport in the Canary Islands, which aspires to continue growing”. Torres praised the inter-administrative work and the work of the business and social sectors to commit the necessary financing to make the demanded work possible.

Faced with the “hustle and bustle” of the cars, the takeoff and landing of planes, the faces without masks, Torres recalled the empty airports due to the pandemic and the uncertainty that this image generated. “Let’s enjoy the moment, we are in luck and keep walking solving any problem we find along the way.”

Peter Martin

“Finally, instead of an airport in pieces and patches, we will have the one that the Island deserves,” defended the president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, for whom the scope of the project contemplated for the Reina Sofía is reflected in the fact that “only » The drafting of the project will cost eight million euros. “Therefore, the investment will be very powerful.” He conveyed optimism when he said that he hopes to have a project proposal for the new terminal next year and announced that the Cabildo’s technical team will monitor and control “so that the final result is the best possible.”

Martín Domínguez valued the involvement and support of the social and economic sectors, as well as the municipalities, as well as perseverance as essential to achieve this milestone. He recognized that the announcement made yesterday by the Minister of Transport is, in large part, the product of the meeting held by representatives of the economic and social sectors of the Island, the Canarian Government and the Cabildo with the Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and Agenda Urbana, Isabel Pardo de Vera. It took place at the Hotel Mencey on October 18.

The president of the Cabildo advanced that “after the summer” there will be news regarding the Tenerife Norte Ciudad de La Laguna Airport and, although he did not consider it a priority “at this time”, he stated that “the second runway of the Tenerife Sur Airport is something to that I do not resign, because I think it will be necessary».

Terminal 2

Terminal 2, a building whose construction ended in 2008, will come into service today. Conceived and designed to serve 4,000 passengers every hour, 39.1 million euros were invested in its construction, which began in 2005, resulting in 21,400 square meters that house 32 check-in counters. That investment required a supplement of 6.1 million euros to make this terminal functional and operational. Yesterday’s was not his first inauguration. In mid-2009, the then Minister of Public Works, Ana Pastor, did so, although it never came into operation, until the commissioning of five boarding gates on October 20 last year.

The expansion of the Tenerife Sur Airport, made up of the Link Terminal and T2, focused an important part of AENA’s efforts during DORA I on Canarian airports, in which investments totaled 428 million euros and with which it exceeded 9% of the initially planned investment.

The inaugural act of the expansion of the Reina Sofía terminal was also attended by representatives of the business sector of the region and the Island, in addition to the eight mayors (from Arico to Santiago del Teide), as well as the Minister of Works Public, Transport and Housing, Sebastián Franquis, who was part of the negotiations that led to the announcement made yesterday by Minister Raquel Sánchez.