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THE INDEPENDENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER WITH LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS
EDITION 594
FRIDAY 9TH FEBRUARY TO THURSDAY 22ND FEBRUARY 2018 MOVIES AT ...
EATING OUT & ABOUT
PAGES PA 25 - 27
Your dining experience aroundd our o restaurants
FORTNIGHTLY SUPPLEMENT NT
property
SOUTH AIRPORT ROW: NIGHT CLOSURE WILL HAVE “TERRIBLE” CONSEQUENCES
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Need for expansion highlighted again
NGER is continuing to mount over AENA’s plan to close Tenerife south airport at night for three months though the fears have been dismissed as “groundless”.
Numerous organisations and individuals have been adding their objections, claiming the move - from April 3rd to June 30th to allow urgent runway repairs - will prove detrimental to the island’s holiday fortunes. But AENA has hit back, saying “no tourist will stop coming to Tenerife because of this” and that most of the airlines, with the exception of Ryanair, had rearranged their schedules to fit in with the unavoidable maintenance. AENA director, Mario Otero told Spanish newspaper El Dia the work could not be carried out without closing the runway or by sections or lanes. “ We chose to close for three months at night when there is less activity and the least impact on operations,” he said. Not to do so would have made the potholes worse: the previous time had been in 2003. He also revealed that when the work on the south airport had been finished, hopefully in a timescale less than the three months, it would be the turn of
the north airport. However, Los Rodeos will not need to be closed at night because it already is. Sr. Otero told El Dia they did not know how many flights would be affected by the maintenance at Tenerife south as there would be diversions and reschedules. He said it wasn’t possible to open the north airport during these three months as is being called for by a number of groups, including the Gomera Socialist Group. Spokesman of ASG in the Canary Parliament, Casimiro Curbelo said AENA “has not taken into account an alternative to the closure of the Tenerife South airport at night because it is a key infrastructure for the mobility of Canaries
and tourists. “ He acknowledged the works were necessar y to ensure security at the airport but “regrets that AENA has not had any foresight in this regard” and does not understand why it has not taken into account the airport in the north of the island to reprogramme the flights which have been cancelled. Tenerife South airport is the third airport with the highest profitability in Spain, with a mobility of more than 11 million passengers per year. Sr. Curbelo reiterated the need for the terminal to be extended and the second runway to be built at the airport in the south of the island, with the aim of allowing the Canary Islands to have this second
Man seriously hurt in fall from pole
EMPTY POND
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HE emergency services were called in after a man fell some distance from a pole into a disused pond.
The accident happened in the Tenerife municipality of Tacoronte whilst the man was apparently carrying out some
work. Police said the 46-year-old victim suffered a serious head injury .
Firemen rescued him from the empty pond following a call to the 112 emergency control centre which sent medics, a fire crew, police and Civil Guard to the scene. Once stabilised, he was taken to hospital.
runway in the near future. A second track was also needed on La Gomera. The Mayors of Arona, Adeje and Guía de Isora have also voiced their objections, saying the three month closure is unacceptable. “The north airport has no nighttime activity and now the airport of the South is going to close at night for three months. The island will be totally isolated and the consequences for the citizens and the tourism sector will be terrible,” they claim. They also say it reinforces the need for a second track, a call supported by the Provincial Federation of Construction Entities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Fepeco) which wants to see a new terminal as well. “It’s a real upheaval,” said Fepeco president, Oscar Izquierdo who claims the needs of Tenerife are falling on deaf ears.
PAGES 41 -48
guide
Illegal holiday rentals “like prostitution”
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Gabriel Wolgeschaffen
OTEL leaders in the Canaries have backed plans to regulate the rental of private holiday homes, saying the current situation is tantamount to “prositution”. Ashotel has lent its support to the concerns being expressed by Santa Cruz city council (full stor y inside) which claims urgent controls are needed. According to the latest report of the Government of the Canary Islands (Promotur) on holiday rentals, in the municipality of Santa Cruz, 553 holiday homes were advertised in 2016 and 1,891 beds. Of that total, only 20 per cent was registered with Tenerife Cabildo. Ashotel vice-president Gabriel Wolgeschaffen says it shouldn’t be a case of “anything goes” and the group is concerned that “anyone with an apartment, house or even a
sailing boat” thinks they can let them out to rent. They point out that numerous offers are advertised in the different platforms online which do not meet the minimum quality, health and safety standards, regardless of the illegality of many of these homes, which circumvent tax control and do not appear in any official record. The group says this is causing enormous damage to the work done by hoteliers in Santa Cruz over the last few years to establish their brand and image.