No revamp for Tenerife South Airport as politicians find culprit

The applause following the announcement of a multi-billion investment in the refurbishment of several airports in the Canary Islands has barely died down, and already the first setbacks are emerging: Tenerife South was set to receive the lion’s share of the funding, yet no one is coming forward for the contract. The partially privatised airport operator AENA has announced that no construction company has submitted a bid for the contract.

No less than 500 million euros has been earmarked for the project. However, when the deadline expired on 15 September, no one had responded to the call for tenders. This does not mean the refurbishment is off the table, but the already tight schedule certainly is.

Tenerife’s President, Rosa Dávila, expressed her «disappointment» at the setback on Tuesday. This was accompanied by a directive to the operator to investigate the reasons and take appropriate action. And these are considered to be quite straightforward:

Tenerife Airport is asking for too much

AENA has recently come under criticism from various quarters for what is perceived as greedy behaviour. Not all of these criticisms were always clear to outsiders. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that Ryanair has withdrawn from numerous airports in Spain due to AENA’s price increases. The Canary Islands are also affected by this.

Added to this is criticism from the pandemic period, when business owners accused airport managers of greed: despite the terminals being closed, business owners were expected to pay the full rent whilst generating zero turnover. After several months, some companies were facing the threat of insolvency, but AENA remained unmoved.

Now there is renewed criticism. This time, it centres on the contract for the refurbishment. After all, half a billion euros is at stake. The contract is therefore certainly of interest to major construction firms. However, it is said that either the scale of refurbishment required is too large, or the contract value – in the millions – is too small. The general consensus in business circles is that they are asking for too much in return for, in turn, too little money.

Tenerife: Airport operator under fire

The refurbishment of the South Airport is by no means off the table. The airport has a long list of overdue refurbishment works and needs a complete overhaul one way or another. AENA also stands to gain many millions of euros in additional revenue once the planned refurbishment has been carried out. This, in turn, is also of interest to politicians, as it promises significant tax revenue. And so, in effect, both parties are in the same boat.

Accordingly, Dávila has now called on AENA manager Javier Marín to give his assurance that the changes required for the refurbishment to begin will be made without delay. However, the deputy managing director cannot approve this on his own, so the first step is to hold discussions at the company’s headquarters in Madrid.

Dávila’s demand that none of this should cause «delays to the planned works» is already considered unrealistic. There was also clear criticism: Tenerife’s president spoke of a tender that was «essentially» «price-driven», which «in our view is not the most appropriate». Rather, with such a complex construction project – which is, after all, set to span eight years – the focus must be on the objective.

Tenerife South Airport: Renovation plans move to the next stage

Lope Afonso, the Vice-President responsible for tourism, echoed this sentiment: as «critical infrastructure», airports must be in the best possible condition. Added to this are requirements for «a design that reflects current trends», particularly given the consistently «high passenger volumes» at Tenerife.

Above all, AENA would need to make more money available for all of this. In the past, however, the operator has tended to stand out for taking significant measures to maximise profits. Voluntarily making larger investments in the refurbishment – even if the money invested can be recouped within a few years – has not been part of the approach of this partly state-owned company in the years since the economic crisis. And so, with the unilateral announcement from Santa Cruz, the final word on the refurbishment of Reina Sofia Airport in Tenerife South has by no means been said.