International airport serving Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Tenerife North?Ciudad de La Laguna Airport
(
IATA
:
TFN
,
ICAO
:
GCXO
), formerly
Los Rodeos Airport
, is the smaller of the two
international airports
on the island of
Tenerife
,
Spain
. It is located in
San Cristobal de La Laguna
, 11 km (7 mi) by road from
Santa Cruz
and at an elevation of 633 metres (2,077 ft). It handled 3,717,944 passengers in 2012. Combined with
Tenerife South Airport
, the island gathers the highest passenger movement of all the
Canary Islands
, with 12,248,673 passengers,
[1]
surpassing
Gran Canaria Airport
. Today TFN is an inter-island
hub
connecting all seven of the main Canary Islands with connections to the
Iberian Peninsula
and
Europe
.
In 1977, the airport was the infamous site of the
deadliest accident in aviation history
, when two
Boeing 747s
collided on the runway in heavy fog conditions, causing the deaths of 583 passengers and crew.
History
[
edit
]
Early years
[
edit
]
Many years before the airport had even been built, the field at Los Rodeos was hastily prepared to accommodate the first (though unofficial) flight into Tenerife operated by an
Arado V I
(D-1594) aircraft operating from
Berlin
on behalf of
Deutsche Luft Hansa
.
In May 1930, the Compania de Lineas Aereas Subvencionadas S.A. (C.L.A.S.S.A.) established the first air link between the Spanish mainland and the Canary Islands using a
Ford 4-AT Trimotor
(M-CKKA), which took off from
Getafe, Madrid
to the Los Rodeos field via
Casablanca
,
Cape Juby
and Gando in
Gran Canaria
.
After the final location of the airport had been decided, funds were gathered between 1935 and 1939 to build a small hangar and begin expanding the airstrip which would become Los Rodeos.
Operations into Los Rodeos recommenced on 23 January 1941 with a
De Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide
operating an
Iberia
flight from Gando in Gran Canaria. By 1946, more hangars, a passenger terminal and an 800 m (2,625 ft) paved runway had been built, and the airport was officially opened to all national and international traffic. The runway was stretched at various times during the 1940s and 1950s, reaching a length of 2,400 m (7,874 ft) in 1953, by which time the airport was also equipped with runway edge lighting and an air-ground radio, enabling night operations.
Development since the 1960s
[
edit
]
By 1964, runway 12/30 had been stretched to 3,000 m (9,843 ft) to accommodate the
DC-8
, new
navigation aids
were installed, and the apron was expanded to provide more parking spaces for aircraft. In 1971, with the prospect of the
Boeing 747
flying into the airport, the runway was reinforced and an
ILS (Instrument Landing System)
was installed.
On December 3, 1972,
Spantax Flight 275
crashed during take-off, killing everyone on board.
A new airport,
Tenerife South Airport
, was inaugurated on 6 November 1978. It was built because Tenerife North is very often covered with thick fog, and this was impacting safety, as shown by the
Tenerife airport disaster
, in which visibility was a contributing factor.
[2]
On 25 April 1980,
Dan-Air Flight 1008
Boeing 727
crashed near the airport, killing all 146 on board, in a
controlled flight into terrain
accident.
A new terminal was opened at Tenerife North Airport in 2002, comprising car park, motorway access ramps, and four-story terminal building, with 12 gates, reopening the airport to international traffic. Until this point, the airport had been closed to international flights ever since Tenerife South had opened in 1978.
[2]
In February 2003,
Santa Barbara Airlines
transferred its Caracas service from Reina Sofia Airport to Tenerife North.
[3]
An inter-island domestic area was opened in 2005.
[
citation needed
]
In June 2009,
Air Europa
introduced a route to Miami using Airbus A330s.
[4]
The service was supposed to end in October 2009, but high demand convinced the airline to shift the end date to January 2010. Air Europa then decided to continue flying to Miami on a seasonal basis. The flight resumed in June 2010; however, the carrier discontinued it four months later.
[5]
[6]
Amid economic problems in Venezuela, SBA Airlines, formerly known as Santa Barbara Airlines, terminated its flights to Caracas in February 2014.
[3]
In June 2018,
Plus Ultra Lineas Aereas
began flying the same route with Airbus A340s.
[7]
Airlines and destinations
[
edit
]
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Tenerife North:
[8]
Airlines
| Destinations
|
---|
Air Europa
| Bilbao
,
Madrid
,
Seville
Seasonal:
Santiago de Compostela
[9]
|
Binter Canarias
| El Hierro
,
Fuerteventura
,
Funchal
,
Gran Canaria
,
Jerez de la Frontera
,
[10]
La Gomera
,
Lanzarote
,
La Palma
,
Madrid
,
[11]
Palma de Mallorca
,
Santander
,
[12]
Vigo
,
Zaragoza
[13]
Seasonal:
Asturias
,
[14]
Marrakech
[15]
|
CanaryFly
| El Hierro
,
Fuerteventura
,
Gran Canaria
,
Lanzarote
,
La Palma
|
Iberia
| Seasonal:
Alicante
,
Asturias
,
Santiago de Compostela
,
Valencia
|
Iberia Express
| Madrid
|
Plus Ultra Lineas Aereas
| Caracas
[16]
|
Ryanair
| Barcelona
,
Madrid
Seasonal:
Alicante
,
[17]
Palma de Mallorca
,
[18]
Seville
,
[19]
Valencia
|
Vueling
| Alicante
,
Asturias
,
Barcelona
,
Bilbao
,
Granada
,
Malaga
,
Santiago de Compostela
,
Seville
,
Valencia
Seasonal:
Lisbon
|
Statistics
[
edit
]
|
Passengers
|
Aircraft movements
|
Cargo (tonnes)
|
2000
|
2,411,100
|
48,902
|
22,462
|
2001
|
2,511,277
|
49,132
|
21,060
|
2002
|
2,486,227
|
48,785
|
21,148
|
2003
|
2,919,087
|
53,718
|
23,842
|
2004
|
3,368,988
|
56,592
|
23,647
|
2005
|
3,754,513
|
60,235
|
22,163
|
2006
|
4,025,601
|
65,297
|
23,193
|
2007
|
4,125,131
|
65,843
|
25,169
|
2008
|
4,236,615
|
67,800
|
20,781
|
2009
|
4,054,147
|
62,776
|
18,304
|
2010
|
4,051,155
|
61,607
|
15,918
|
2011
|
4,095,103
|
62,590
|
15,745
|
2012
|
3,717,944
|
55,789
|
14,778
|
2013
|
3,524,470
|
49,289
|
13,493
|
2014
|
3,633,030
|
52,694
|
13,991
|
2015
|
3,815,315
|
53,259
|
12,819
|
2016
|
4,219,633
|
55,669
|
12,426
|
2017
|
4,704,863
|
61,098
|
13,044
|
2018
|
5,492,324
|
73,236
|
12,689
|
2019
|
5,840,483
|
75,385
|
12,596
|
2020
|
2,795,952
|
46,100
|
9,643
|
2021
|
3,840,160
|
54,581
|
11,884
|
Source:
AENA
[20]
|
Accidents and incidents
[
edit
]
Tenerife airport disaster
[
edit
]
On 27 March 1977, Tenerife North Airport (then Tenerife Los Rodeos) was the scene of the deadliest accident in aviation history, which claimed the lives of 583 people. While attempting to take off,
KLM
Flight 4805, a
Boeing 747-206B
, collided with
Pan Am
Flight 1736, a
Boeing 747-121
, which was taxiing along the runway. All 248 passengers and crew on the KLM flight were killed, along with 335 occupants of the Pan Am flight; however, 61 of the passengers and crew on board the Pan Am survived. Neither of the two airliners was originally scheduled to land on Tenerife, as both flights were bound for
Gran Canaria Airport
but had been diverted to Los Rodeos as a result of a terrorist bombing at Gran Canaria.
Other incidents
[
edit
]
Ground transport
[
edit
]
Bus routes 20, 30, 103 and 343 serve the airport.
[22]
Car Rental Companies
[23]
[
edit
]
Several car rental companies authorized by AENA operate at the Airport: AutoReisen,
[24]
Cicar, Hertz, Goldcar, Europcar, Avis, and Ok Mobility. All of these companies are located in the arrivals hall. There are other car rental companies operating outside the airport, but they are not authorized by AENA.
* Updated as of January 2024.
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Tenerife North Airport
at Wikimedia Commons
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International
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Domestic
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Unscheduled
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