Tenerife South Airport

IATA: TFS – ICAO: GCTS

Elevation 64m / 209ft (m)
Coordinates 28 ° 02′40, 11 “N 016 ° 34′20, 96″ W

meters feet
3.200×45 10.499×148 Asphalt 08/26

Tenerife South Airport, also known as Reina Sofia Airport is located in the municipalities of Granadilla de Abona Tenerife and San Miguel, near the coastal town of El Medano. In the late sixties, during the visit of the minister of the air to the works of Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North), the island authorities raised the need to choose a new location because of adverse weather which prevented the existing airport to be technically adequate.

With support from the Ministry for this proposal, the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife began buying land in the municipalities of San Miguel and Granadilla de Abona. On 29th May 1970, it was declared of public utility and urgent construction site. In summer 1973, the project was awarded 450 million pesetas.

In 1976 works were awarded successively to the taxiway and links, the power plant, earthmoving and urbanization of the terminal area. In 1977, the contracts for the construction of the control tower, installation of lighting on the main runway, the taxiway and the terminal building were awarded.

The collision in 1977 in Los Rodeos and its opening on October 23rd 1978 gave a very strong impulse to the airport (one million passengers in the first year) whose plane was an opening of the Secretariat for Civil Aviation in travelling to HM Queen Sofia.

It connects the island with hundreds of destinations, especially the UK, Germany and Italy, as well as flights to other parts of Spain, Europe, America and Africa. Note the near absence of inter-island flights from this airport. Located some 60km from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 20 minutes from the resorts of Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas. It complements the Los Rodeos International Airport, located in the north of the island and is oriented for international traffic, but also has intercontinental flights.

Part of the National Airport Network, managed by AENA, it recently underwent a series of renovations that made it a major gateway to the archipelago in comfortable and modern surroundings, that were presented in June 2007 and has cost over 6,000 million pesetas.

In late 2006 and since its opening, it has had pass through its facilities, a total of 173,912,207 passengers. In 2007, 8,639,341 people used it. Combined with Los Rodeos, it assembled the biggest movement of passengers with 12,764,375 passengers (AENA1 report) and low-cost airlines, with a total of 20.

The new 21,400 square meter terminal is nearly finished and will be operational by mid 2009 which will increase passengers from 3000 to 4400. The investment is intended to be 30.1 million. The building is aligned with the current building and has a ground floor patio for the exits, service tunnel, district general facilities, a plant for passenger turnover with 32 counters, offices and commercial airlines, and another plant to expand in the future.

The boarding area, has the possibility of building additional public areas or offices on an upper floor. The construction of a footbridge linking the new terminal building will allow the passenger to enter directly into the lobby of billing or access the boarding area, passing the appropriate safeguards.

A new hall will replace the current transits to leave room for the new security control. The airport will also have an instrument landing system for aircraft, costing 1.1 million. The work planned is due to be completed by 2020 including extending the terminal with a building area of 100,000 square meters and five plants, in response to 7,500 passengers an hour and with an investment of 425 million euros.

In these enlargements is a new runway (AENA has already designed the blueprint with 3,200 meters long and 60 wide, which will work up to 96 operations per hour, more than double the current capacity) and expanding the boarding area with a landing approach in bad weather. In all this, there will also be, in the second half of 2008, the opening of a communications hub with the most advanced Southern Motorway (TF-1).