Tenerife South Airport

Tenerife South Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto de Tenerife Sur) (IATA: TFS, ICAO: GCTS), also known as Tenerife South–Reina Sofía Airport,^[3] is the larger of the two international airports located on the island of Tenerife (the other being Tenerife North Airport) and the second busiest in the Canary Islands (after Gran Canaria Airport).

Tenerife South Airport Aeropuerto de Tenerife Sur Tenerife Sur Airport - GCTS
IATA: TFS ICAO: GCTS
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Aena
Serves	Tenerife
Location	Granadilla de Abona
Elevation AMSL	64 m / 209 ft
Coordinates	28°02′40″N 016°34′21″W
Website	https://www.aena.es/en/tenerife-sur.html
Map
TFS Location in the Canary Islands
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 07/25 3,200 10,498 Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers 11,168,506 Passenger change 18-19 1.1% Movements 70,277 Movements change 18-19 0.5% Cargo (t) 2,188
Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA [1] Spanish AIP, AENA[2]

It is located in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona and handled over 11 million passengers in 2018. Combined with Tenerife North Airport, the island gathers the highest passenger movement of all the Canary Islands, with 12,248,673 passengers,^[4] surpassing Gran Canaria Airport.

History

In the late 1960s, the island authorities of Tenerife found the need for a second airport at a new location, because the existing airport (then called "Los Rodeos Airport"), now known as Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport, did not meet technical requirements due to adverse weather conditions, especially low visibility in foggy conditions; this was exemplified by the events of what became the deadliest aviation accident in history, when in 1977, two Boeing 747s collided on the runway at Los Rodeos, killing 583 people, in part, due to very low visibility.

Only 20 months later, with the disaster still fresh in people's minds, the new airport was inaugurated on 6 November 1978, by Queen Sofía of Spain, to whom the airport is dedicated. The first flight was Iberia flight IB187 from Lanzarote, which was operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 landing at 10:17.^[5] The airport was constructed close to the Tomás Zerolo airfield, which closed when TFS opened.^[6] By the end of its first year, 1 million passengers had passed through its doors.^{[citation needed]}

In June 1980, Viasa inaugurated flights to Caracas. The link served the large proportion of the Canarian diaspora that resided in Venezuela.^[7] The airline ceased operations in 1997, after which Avensa started plying the route.^[8][9] Due to financial problems, Avensa later let Santa Bárbara Airlines take over its flights to Spain and then began code-sharing on them.^[8][10] In October 2002, Santa Bárbara commenced service to Reina Sofía Airport using a McDonnell Douglas DC-10. It switched to Tenerife North Airport four months later.^[11]

United Airlines launched thrice weekly-service to Tenerife from Newark in June 2022, using a Boeing 757-200.^[12]

Terminal

Tenerife South consists of one three-storey passenger terminal in a classic brick style. The main level, Floor 0, contains all check-in and service counters, the departures waiting areas as well as the arrivals and main baggage reclaim. The departures area features 40 boarding gates of which ten are equipped with jetbridges. While the upper floor 1 contains office space and transit corridors, the basement level -1 features additional luggage belts.^[13]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Tenerife South Airport:^[14]

Airlines	Destinations
Aer Lingus	Cork,[citation needed] Dublin[15]
airBaltic	Seasonal: Riga,[16] Tallinn,[17] Vilnius[17]
Animawings	Seasonal: Bucharest–Otopeni[18]
Austrian Airlines	Vienna[19]
Binter Canarias	Gran Canaria,[20] La Palma Seasonal: Funchal[21]
Braathens International Airways	Seasonal charter: Billund[22] Gothenburg,[22] Oslo[22]
British Airways	London–Gatwick,[23] London–Heathrow[24]
Brussels Airlines	Brussels[25][26]
Condor	Düsseldorf,[27] Frankfurt,[27] Hamburg,[27] Leipzig/Halle, Munich Seasonal: Stuttgart[28]
Corendon Airlines Europe	Cologne/Bonn,[29] Düsseldorf,[29] Hannover[29] Seasonal: Nuremberg[citation needed]
Corendon Dutch Airlines	Amsterdam
Discover Airlines	Frankfurt,[30] Munich[31]
easyJet	Basel/Mulhouse,[32] Belfast–International,[32] Berlin,[32] Birmingham,[33] Bordeaux,[32] Bristol,[32] Edinburgh,[32] Geneva,[32] Liverpool,[32] London–Gatwick,[34] London–Luton,[35] London–Southend,[36] Lyon,[32] Manchester,[37] Milan–Malpensa,[32] Nantes,[32] Paris–Charles de Gaulle[32] Seasonal: Amsterdam,[38] Glasgow,[39] Milan–Linate,[40] Nice[41]
Edelweiss Air	Zurich[42]
Eurowings	Cologne/Bonn,[43] Düsseldorf[44][45] Seasonal: Berlin,[46] Graz,[47] Hamburg,[46][45] Hannover,[47] Prague (begins 7 November 2025),[48] Salzburg,[49] Stuttgart[46]
Finnair	Seasonal: Helsinki[50]
Iberia Express	Madrid
Icelandair	Reykjavik–Keflavík[51][52]
Jet2.com	Belfast–International,[53] Birmingham,[54] Bournemouth,[55][56] Bristol,[57] East Midlands,[58] Edinburgh,[59][60] Glasgow,[53] Leeds/Bradford,[53] Liverpool,[61] London–Luton,[62][63] London–Stansted,[64] Manchester,[65] Newcastle upon Tyne[66] Seasonal charter: London–Gatwick[citation needed]
LOT Polish Airlines	Seasonal: Warsaw–Chopin[67]
Luxair	Luxembourg[68]
Marabu	Cologne/Bonn,[69] Munich
Neos	Bologna,[70] Rome–Fiumicino Seasonal: Milan–Malpensa,[71] Verona[72]
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Copenhagen,[73] Oslo[74] Seasonal: Aalborg,[75] Bergen,[76] Helsinki,[77] Stavanger,[78] Stockholm–Arlanda[41]
Play	Reykjavík–Keflavík[79][80]
Royal Air Maroc	Seasonal: Casablanca[citation needed]
Ryanair	Agadir,[32] Barcelona,[32] Bergamo,[81] Berlin,[32] Birmingham,[32] Bologna,[32] Bournemouth,[32] Bristol,[32] Budapest,[82] Charleroi,[32] Cologne/Bonn,[32] Cork, Dublin,[32] East Midlands,[32] Edinburgh,[32] Eindhoven,[83] Glasgow–Prestwick,[32] Knock,[84][85] Kraków,[32] Leeds/Bradford,[32] Liverpool,[32] London–Luton,[32] London–Stansted,[32] Madrid,[32] Málaga,[32] Manchester,[32] Marseille,[32] Milan–Malpensa,[32] Naples,[32] Newcastle upon Tyne,[32] Nuremberg, Pisa, Rome–Fiumicino,[32] Santiago de Compostela,[32] Seville,[32] Shannon,[32] Treviso,[32] Valencia,[32] Vienna,[32] Warsaw–Modlin[32] Seasonal: Beauvais,[41] Cardiff,[86] Hahn,[41] Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden,[41] Marrakesh,[87] Memmingen,[41] Porto,[88] Toulouse,[89] Weeze[41]
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal: Copenhagen,[90] Oslo,[91] Stockholm–Arlanda[92]
Smartwings	Prague[93] Seasonal: Brno[citation needed] Seasonal charter: Jersey,[94] Warsaw-Chopin[95]
Sunclass Airlines[96][97][98][99]	Seasonal charter: Aalborg,[citation needed] Billund,[citation needed] Copenhagen,[100] Gothenburg,[citation needed] Helsinki,[citation needed] Malmö,[citation needed] Oslo,[101] Stockholm–Arlanda
Sundair[102]	Seasonal: Berlin,[citation needed] Bremen,[citation needed] Dresden,[citation needed] Kassel[citation needed] Münster/Osnabrück[103]
TAP Air Portugal	Lisbon[104]
Transavia	Amsterdam,[105] Brussels,[106] Eindhoven,[107] Paris–Orly, Rotterdam/The Hague[108] Seasonal: Nantes[citation needed]
TUI Airways	Birmingham,[109] Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin,[110] East Midlands, Exeter,[111] Glasgow, London–Gatwick,[112] Manchester,[113] Newcastle upon Tyne,[114] Norwich[115] Seasonal: Aberdeen,[citation needed] Belfast–International,[citation needed] London–Luton,[citation needed] London–Stansted[citation needed]
TUI fly Belgium	Antwerp,[116] Brussels, Liège,[117] Ostend/Bruges[118]
TUI fly Deutschland	Düsseldorf,[119] Frankfurt,[120] Hannover,[121] Munich,[122] Stuttgart[123]
TUI fly Netherlands	Amsterdam,[124] Eindhoven,[125] Rotterdam[126]
TUI fly Nordic	Seasonal charter: Gothenburg,[citation needed] Stockholm–Arlanda[citation needed]
Volotea	Asturias,[127] Bilbao,[128] Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes,[129] Toulouse Seasonal: Brest,[130] Lille,[131] Marseille[citation needed]
Vueling	Paris–Orly[132]
Wizz Air[133]	Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Gdańsk,[134] Katowice,[135] Milan–Malpensa,[136] Rome–Fiumicino, Venice, Vienna,[137] Warsaw–Chopin[138]

Statistics

Terminal exterior

Control tower

Apron view

Passengers

	Passengers	Aircraft movements	Cargo (tonnes)
2000	9,111,065	62,096	12,019
2001	9,111,065	61,055	11,469
2002	8,980,465	63,527	10,769
2003	8,852,878	62,506	8,775
2004	8,632,178	62,824	9,218
2005	8,631,923	63,649	9,770
2006	8,845,668	65,774	9,414
2007	8,639,341	65,036	9,168
2008	8,251,989	60,779	8,567
2009	7,108,073	49,779	5,371
2010	7,359,150	51,858	4,293
2011	8,656,487	58,093	4,480
2012	8,530,729	56,210	3,906
2013	8,701,983	55,987	3,395
2014	9,176,274	60,290	3,376
2015	9,117,514	58,462	2,844
2016	10,472,713	65,882	2,809
2017	11,248,882	69,846	2,797
2018	11,042,481	69,910	2,483
2019	11,168,506	70,277	2,188
Source: Aena Statistics[1]

Busiest routes

Busiest european routes from TFS (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2021 / 22
1	Manchester	963,741	16%
2	London-Gatwick	712,288	24%
3	London-Stansted	519,686	15%
4	Birmingham	393,055	11%
5	Bristol	369,394	26%
6	East Midlands	321,549	16%
7	Edinburgh	320,816	12%
8	Brussels	311,785	14%
9	Dublin	285,481	20%
10	Düsseldorf	284,990	16%
11	Newcastle	270,219	12%
12	Frankfurt	268,081	8%
13	Amsterdam	261,813	2%
14	Glasgow	244,089	11%
15	Leeds/Bradford	232,589	20%
16	Milan-Malpensa	199,739	8%
17	London-Luton	173,764	19%
18	Vienna	169,753	29%
19	Berlin	165,466	5%
20	Munich	162,859	12%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[139]

Busiest domestic routes from TFS (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2021 / 22
1	Madrid	417,917	10%
2	Gran Canaria	204,484	15%
3	Santiago de Compostela	140,903	16%
4	Barcelona	74,668	15%
5	Seville	63,714	20%
6	Lanzarote	59,698	57%
7	La Palma	55,257	99%
8	Valencia	41,304	17%
9	Málaga	37,369	1%
10	Asturias	16,429	21%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[139]

Ground transport

Bus services

The public bus service TITSA offers services to all parts of the island. Line 343 connects the South Airport (TFS) with Tenerife North Airport (TFN). The planned Tren del Sur will serve the airport if it is built.^{[citation needed]}

Car rental

Several car rental companies authorized by AENA operate at Tenerife South Airport. These companies are located in the arrivals halls for both domestic and international flights. There are other car rental companies operating outside the airport, but they are not authorized by AENA.^[140]