Canary Islands government calls for more runways; AENA rejects expansion plans

The key points: Show summary Hide summary

In its draft mobility strategy, EMSICAN, the Government of the Canary Islands is calling for new runways for flights between the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
The airport operator AENA rejects any expansion and emphasises that the millions pledged are still intended solely for refurbishment, not for expansion.
Critics argue that the real bottleneck lies not with the runways, but with the overburdened passenger handling systems in the terminals.

Members see a handy summary here

A dedicated runway on Gran Canaria for flights between the Canary Islands, and a second apron for Tenerife: under this plan, the Canary Islands Government aims to respond to the increase in air traffic. The debate is not new, but it contradicts previous claims.

Hide advertising here!

The recently abandoned redevelopment of Tenerife South Airport (more on this at the end of the article) has raised doubts about the statements made by AENA ever since planning began. The partially privatised airport operator announced a 500 million euro redevelopment, whilst emphasising at the same time that this was expressly not intended to serve as an expansion.

This is precisely the issue currently being debated from various angles in the Canary Islands. Many residents are calling for an end to unconsidered expansion at any cost and believe that Canary Islands tourism has reached its peak. Politicians, on the other hand, have different objectives, as the latest proposal for Tenerife and Gran Canaria now demonstrates.

Canary Islands airports: Government calls for dedicated runways for inter-island flights

The draft of the «Strategy for Sustainable and Smart Mobility in the Canary Islands» – EMSICAN for short – has been available since Thursday. The next step will be to subject the proposal to a mandatory environmental impact assessment and a public consultation. The document calls for numerous measures, including new runways.

The central idea is not new: the Canary Islands have been discussing the possibility of having their own runways for inter-island flights – that is, connections between individual islands – for more than two decades. The aircraft used for this purpose are smaller and lighter. A short runway is sufficient for them. In day-to-day operations, Canarian policymakers argue, these small aircraft take up space that could be used by larger ones.

The runways required for tourist flights are three kilometres long. Inter-island flights require only half that length. Provided there is sufficient distance from the main runway, flight operations to the mainland and to other islands could thus be run in parallel.

Airport operator AENA continues to reject additional runways

AENA is also aware of the debate. The operator has repeatedly rejected an expansion in recent times. This year, too, the company turned down the construction project. The Canary Islands‘ politicians, however, have reiterated their demand once again.

AENA’s stance is also rooted in capacity considerations. Whilst there are recurring debates about queues at the Canary Islands‘ airports, the millions recently allocated are intended to resolve precisely this problem. Consequently, no further expenditure will be required to bring about expansions. Should greater capacity for arriving and departing aircraft become necessary, the handling facilities in the terminals would also need to be upgraded – otherwise the new runways would not be utilised to full capacity.

Tenerife and Gran Canaria have unique airport infrastructures

The stance taken by Canary Islands policymakers is in line with the policy of steady expansion of the region’s main economic driver. Moreover, it only partially reflects reality. Strictly speaking, Tenerife South already has a separate second runway: Tenerife North Airport. Owing to the unique position of the largest Canary Island, which has two international airports, only just over eight per cent of flights to other islands depart from the larger airport. At the smaller Tenerife North Airport – which is therefore better suited to such flights – the proportion of inter-island connections is significantly higher.

In Gran Canaria, on the other hand, a good four in ten flights are inter-island services. Gando Airport, however, already has two runways. The western one is reserved exclusively for civil flights, whilst the eastern one is also used by the military stationed there. Particularly during the peak holiday season, however, civil aviation is generally given priority outside of times of crisis.

The proposal, which has been under discussion for around 25 years, was based on growth forecasts which, whilst they have since materialised, have also pushed other areas of the airports to their limits. The current bottleneck is therefore not the runway, but the handling of arriving and departing passengers. And even there, deputy managing director Javier Marín sees «capacity reserves». How these are to be realised – given the videos circulating time and again of holidaymakers waiting for hours – without the planned refurbishment remains another mystery.