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EDITION 600
FRIDAY 4th MAY TO THURSDAY 17th MAY 2018 MOVIES AT ...
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WAR OF WORDS OVER TENERIFE’S SOUTH AIRPORT AENA and business leaders clash
A
war of words has broken out over whether or not Tenerife’s south airport needs a second runway as a matter of urgency, as well as an additional terminal. Furious business leaders claim the island is receiving unfair and second-class treatment and cannot progress as it would like unless the extra facilities are provided. But the airport authority AENA says this is not the case and the amount of traffic currently being experienced at the south airport does not warrant the creation of a second runway. The Provincial Federation of Construction Entities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Fepeco) has denounced “the repeated disregard of AENA towards Tenerife and the economic interests of our island, since it does not treat us like other territories, both here in the Canary Islands, or those in the peninsula.”
The business leaders claim Tenerife South-Reina Sofía Airport T-1 terminal is “saturated and at the limit of its operational capacity”. Fepeco says that in 40 years “it has not been rehabilitated, conditioned or updated according to the needs and quality of service it deserves” in view of its status as a tourist destination. Fepeco says multi-million euro investments are being made in other airports of the national network and is urging “political firmness” to make sure the situation is rectified. In 2008, the second T-2 terminal was inaugurated at a cost of 43 million euros but Fepeco says it was closed just a day after the “lavish opening ceremony” and remains so ten years later. They say at
Less Brits but tourism undented
N
ATIONAL tourism has grown in Tenerife by almost 16 per cent in the first quarter of 2018.
The island’s Cabildo says it is delighted, with the figures “reinforcing a trend which has been registering in this market since last summer and that, according to forecasts, will also continue in the coming months.” On the other hand, the situation of the international market is weaker, although it has still risen by 0.3 per cent, caused by the recovery of competing destinations in the Mediterranean area and the loss of air capacity in some important emission markets with the bankruptcy of companies like Monarch and Niki. Nevertheless, Tenerife closed the first quarter of the
year with 1,360,035 lodged in its tourist establishments, 2.6 per cent more than in the same period of the previous year. The data of the Receptive Tourism Statistics of the Cabildo show a positive evolution of both the hotel sector (6%) and the non-hotel sector, which increases by 6.9%. Overnight stays, 10,318,441 in total, were reduced by 0.6 per cent and the average stay experienced a cut of 0.24 days in the quarter, standing at 7.59 days on average. As for employment, it dropped by 3.8 per cent to reach an average rate of 69.8 per cent. The British market registered a decrease of 1.8 per
cent in the first quarter, a situation continued since the end of last year. The bankruptcy of Monarch and the devaluation of the pound against the euro are some of the causes of this situation together with the reduction of the air capacity of other companies such as Tomas Cook, Norwegian, Vueling or Ryanair, which is affecting the evolution of this market, says Alberto Bernab. The German market, the second most important international issuer for the island, recovered after the decline suffered in 2017 and registered an increase of 2.2 per cent from Januar y to March. Other markets up include Belgian, Dutch, French, Irish, Eastern countries and American tourism.
least part of the building should reopen with urgency to cope with future passenger forecasts and to alleviate the long walk along corridors many passengers have to make. Expansion would also create new jobs. Fepeco also says the creation of a second runway cannot be ignored simply on the evidence of criteria. “It is an action that has to be advanced in time to safeguards the needs of the future and ensure the connectivity of the island,” said a spokesman. However, AENA says the average occupation of the Tenerife Sur airport runway in the winter season of 2017 was
46.2 per cent and demonstrates the airport site “has sufficient capacity” to meet the demand “and, therefore, a second runway is not necessary in Tenerife Sur, neither in the short or medium term”. The airport authority says millions of euros HAS been invested in the south airport and specialised publications such as Consumer magazine value the Reina Sofia as being of good quality (above airports such as Stockholm, London Gatwick, Helsinki, Naples, Athens, Antalya, Malta, Venice, Nice, Nantes, Istanbul and Faro), being the best in the Canary Islands . AENA says it is working
with Tenerife Cabildo in the future functional design of the terminal area and planning necessary investments. “The airport system of Tenerife generates some 8,400 direct jobs ,” says AENA, which says that Tenerife’s airports “will never be a brake on the social and economic development of the island, but must be done within a responsible management of infrastructures, not making unnecessary investments that customers must pay for and, therefore, making it less efficient and competitive .”