The Role of Inter-Island Air Transport in the Canary Islands
Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244 www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo
The role of inter-island air transport in the Canary Islands Jos e Angel Hernandez Luis * Departamento de Geografia, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands 35003, Spain
Abstract The Canary Islands depend almost completely on air transport for the inter-island distances usually exceeding 80–100 miles. 1 Apart from the transport of heavy cargo and that of low unit value by sea transport, the rest of the traffic tends to choose this means. What is more, tourism is developing in the main island and is highly dependent on air transport. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the quality of regular inter-island air transport in the Canary Islands, and how this is incorporated into the Trans-Insular Transport Axis as a social and economic integrating factor. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Air transport; Accessibility; Trans-Insular Transport Axis; Trans-European Transport Networks
1. Introduction less important as this is used extensively for work, business, health, and other trips. Regular air traffic, This article deals with the important role scheduled especially that carried out between islands, is prone to air transport plays for the Canary Islands and its role in changes in timetable, availability of seats on certain days an economy that is highly dependent on tourism. It is and at certain times and there needs to be a minimum true that over 90% of tourists access the Islands on non- amount of time available at destinations in order to al- scheduled flights that are chartered by tour operators low for the return trip on the same day. These quality from abroad. However, when the tourists are on the factors affect the socioeconomic development of the Islands they also use regular interior air transport. At islands. The idea of the Trans-European Transport Net- the same time, the increase in economic activity has work is to help the integration of the economies of the stimulated an increase in inter-island traffic and with the countries in the European Union, and to improve Iberian Peninsula. This traffic has reached levels of over accessibility for their citizens, especially in the peripheral 2.2 million inter-island passengers and 4.7 million with regions (Coccossis and Nijkamp, 1995). the rest of Spain, in 2002. 2 The Trans-European Transport Network concentrates Although non-regular (charter) air traffic is significant on infrastructures, with 14 priority projects among for the Canary Islands regular (scheduled) traffic is no which the high-speed trains are noteworthy. However, the Canary Islands do not directly benefit. Therefore, in 1998 the Canary Island government developed a Plan called the Trans-Insular Transport Axis. This is to pro- * Tel.: +34-28-451700/732/2789; fax: +34-28-451701/2775. mote the development of port and airport infrastructure E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] to improve connections with other islands and eventu- (J.A. Hernandez Luis). ally with the Trans-European Network (Canary Island 1 However, for shorter distances of 50–60 miles, high-speed sea transport begins to compete with air transport (Tenerife–Gran Government, 1998a,b: Gobierno de Canarias, 1998a,b). Canaria; Tenerife–La Gomera; or Lanzarote–Fuerteventura). In this way the Trans-Insular Transport Axis is a sub- 2 Air traffic in and out of the Canary Islands from abroad rose to 23 sidiary of the Trans-European Network. Improvement million in the year 2002. Total air traffic (incoming plus outgoing and of infrastructure contributes to raising the quality of counting ‘‘regular’’ as well as ‘‘non-regular’’), rose to 29.9 million transport, even though the quality of service will depend passengers. From this last amount, 38% come in or leave from the Island of Tenerife; 31% from Gran Canaria; 16% from Lanzarote; 12% ultimately on the transport companies themselves. It is from Fuerteventura; and the other 3% from La Palma, El Hierro & La therefore the aim of this article to evaluate the quality of Gomera, tourism being far less important for these last three islands. the Canary air transport, mainly interinsular, where it is
0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2004.04.005 236 J.A . Herna ndez Luis / Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244
Table 1 Population and economic characteristics of the Canary Islands between 1960 and 2001 Years Population Foreign tourists Occupations Gross Added Value (in thousands constants euros, 2001) Sector 1a Sector 2a Sector 3a Sector 1a Sector 2a Sector 3a 1960 966,177 69,000 185,025 47,798 113,010 878,938 387,521 1487,697 1970 1125,442 821,000 127,716 90,174 192,205 963,050 966,668 4271,694 1981 1367,669 2521,500 87,275 93,785 276,583 846,357 2810,982 8301,708 1991 1493,784 5495,000 44,133 96,753 356,168 838,376 3601,986 13230,019 1996 1606,549 8007,118 42,386 91,268 389,295 812,208 3525,297 16065,112 2001 1781,366 10137,202 39,160 109,661 488,370 865,247 3844,109 17192,162 Variation 84.4% 14,591.6% )78.8% 129.4% 332.1% )1.6% 892.0% 1,055.7% 1960–2001 Source: Instituto Canario de Estad ıstica and Renta Nacional de Espana~ y su distribucion provincial, BBVA. a Sector 1: agriculture, cattle ranching and fishing; Sector 2: industry and construction; Sector 3: services. a fundamental factor in the social and economic inte- Table 2 gration of the Islands. Population, tourism and economic performance of the Canary Islands in 2001 Islands Population Foreign tourists Gross Added Value (%) 2. Brief socio-economic panorama in the Canary Islands Gran Canaria 755,489 3058,759 42 Tenerife 744,076 3811,990 42 The Canary Islands have nearly doubled their popu- Lanzarote 103,044 1791,722 6 lation over the last 40 years and in 2001 they recorded 1.8 La Palma 84,319 133,412 4 million inhabitants (2.1 million including the tourist Fuerteventura 66,025 1341,319 5 population that comes and goes to and from the Archi- La Gomera 18,990 – 0.5 El Hierro 9,423 – 0.5 pelago). This fact, together with the move of the active population from the primary to the tertiary sector, has Total 1781,366 10137,202 100 generated a very large increase in interinsular mobility as Source: Instituto Canario de Estad ıstica. well as with the rest of Spain and Europe over the last few years. The financial dependence the islands have on tourism conditioning factor for air transport. Even so, it is also is very high. Although it is not possible to say that all true that some islands, such as La Gomera or El Hierro, tertiary activity depends on it, it is true that tourism has require minimum service levels that are not justified by an important influence not only in the tertiary sector commercial demand. This is where public service obli- but also in others. An example would be the con- gation takes on particular significance. 3 struction industry within the secondary sector. In any Table 2 shows the imbalance between islands and this case, the tertiary activity currently generates 78% of the affects the demand for airborne transport. In fact, Gross Added Value and without doubt, has contributed Tenerife and Gran Canaria contain 84% of the popu- to the increase in the income per capita. In fact, lation and the Gross Added Value. The other 16% is whereas in 1960 the Gross Added Value per capita per distributed unevenly with 14% of the population found year was 2850 Euro (constant from the year 2000) in on the islands of Lanzarote, La Palma and Fuerteven- 2001 this figure had already multiplied by over four tura, and the other 2% is on La Gomera & El Hierro. times to 12,295 Euro on average for each resident on The Gross Added Value does not differ very much from the islands. All these factors have stimulated air trans- these values. Whereas the economy of the island of La port growth amongst the islands in the last 40 years Palma depends heavily on agriculture for export, spe- (Table 1). cifically bananas, the islands of Lanzarote and Fuer- The distribution of the population and wealth within teventura specialise in tourism. the archipelago varies considerably. Multiple parame- ters affect these: from historical reasons to geo-physical conditions, the development of port infrastructures, and so on. This unequal distribution has significant conse- 3 In Resolution of the 30th July 1998 of the Secretar ıa de Estado de quences for external transport connections. The demand Infraestructuras y Transportes, 13 interinsular air routes were declared for air transport services differs sharply among the is- as being under public service obligation, each one with minimum lands and therefore, the hinterland of each island is a conditions related to frequency, seats available and timetable. J.A . Herna ndez Luis / Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244 237
Table 3 gent goods. However, over the last few decades maritime Ratio of interinsular trips to population for each island in 2001 technology has improved greatly with the introduction Islands Air passengers/ Sea passengers/ Total of fast ferries, jet-foils and hydro-foils, that have man- inhab. inhab. aged to get a market share in key archipelagos (VV. La Gomera 0.58 33.28 33.86 AA., 2001), as in the case of interinsular transport in the Fuerteventura 3.75 10.13 13.88 Canary Islands. 4 However, this experience has shown El Hierro 6.87 6.56 13.43 Lanzarote 2.92 4.76 7.68 that instead of competition between the two means of La Palma 2.96 1.19 4.15 transport, a completely new market has been created Tenerife 0.88 2.04 2.92 (Hernandez Luis, 2002). Since September 1998 the Gran Canaria 0.90 1.24 2.14 grants provided per resident on the Canary Islands for Total 1.24 2.47 3.71 interinsular airborne trips has risen from 10% to 33%. Source: Instituto Canario de Estad ıstica and air companies and ship- This in itself has been a stimulus to using interinsular ping lines. airborne traffic. Recent studies emphasise the proactive role that transport plays in island development (Brookfield, 1980; However, compared with population share, the non- Murillo Fort et al., 1992; Eurisles, 1996; Canaries Gov- central islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, ernment, 1998a: Gobierno de Canarias, 1998a; Fun- La Palma and El Hierro) demand a greater quantity of dacion Tomillo, 2001; Guillaumin, 2001). However, in a air seats (Table 3). This makes up for the lack of other society where information, merchandise and passengers services that are available for the inhabitants of Tenerife flow with increasing speed, air transport becomes essen- and Gran Canaria. tial. What is more, the economies of archipelagos are It must be said that the sea passenger ratios are heavily dependent on tourist activity (Hawaii, Sey- exaggerated because of the tourist excursions, especially chelles, Virgin Islands, Balearic Islands, etc.) 5 and due in La Gomera and to a lesser degree in Fuerteventura to the fact they are all distant from the main sources of and Lanzarote. In the case of interinsular air transport, their tourist demand, air transport plays a key role in the figures are more representative of the permanent their development. We must not overlook the social inhabitants and show that, in 2001 less than one inter- function that this transport has for the residents of these island trip was generated per inhabitant of the main is- islands. Neither must we forget the role of shipping in lands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. At the opposite supplying these archipelagos which lack large local extreme we have nearly seven trips by air transport per industries and many raw materials. 6 inhabitant of El Hierro and between three and four trips Air transport is of vital importance for the develop- a year per inhabitant for the islands of Fuerteventura, ment of the main economic activity on the islands–– La Palma and El Hierro. La Gomera is worth a special tourism. It is true that nearly all the connections made mention because of its being near to Tenerife where with the outside world are through non-scheduled ser- tourism is a major factor, as well as the use of fast ferries vices. However, the presence of tourists on the Islands and much lower ship than air fares. These factors mean demands increased interinsular mobility––both related that the population use sea transport frequently. These to the tourists themselves and to the people working in ratios on their own bring us near to the inter-island tourism. This has an important influence on the demand mobility and the need of the inhabitants of the periphe- for scheduled interinsular services and with the rest of ral islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, La the country. Proof of this is that the demand for inter- Palma and El Hierro) to travel more to access govern- insular air passenger traffic has doubled in the last 25 ment, health and commercial services on the main years, in spite of the spectacular growth experienced by islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. the shipping industry (see Fig. 1).
3. Air transport and development in the Canary Islands 4 In relation to passengers and urgent goods, the large distances Air transport plays an important role in world eco- from the Canary Islands to the rest of Spain (to Madrid some 900 miles and to the nearest Peninsular port, that of Cadiz, some 620) makes it nomic development (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998; Button impossible for shipping transport to be competitive with air transport. and Taylor, 2000), but it becomes essential when dealing 5 According to the Instituto Canario de Estad ıstica, the Canary with island development (Hoyle, 1999). In fact, the Islands received a little over 10.1 million foreign tourists in 2001, plus Canary Islands present a common problem: that of approximately 1.5 million tourists from mainland Spain. 6 territorial fragmentation and, in many cases, long dis- Between 1988 and 1998, exports from Canaries to the Peninsula were about 21% on average, whereas for the opposite route this was tances. In the majority of cases, being far away from 79% (Hernandez Luis, 2001). This fact reafirms the characteristics of anything can be solved, at a price, by a fast means of supply by shipping traffic between the Iberian Peninsula and the transport, such as the aeroplane for passengers and ur- Canary Islands. 238 J.A . Herna ndez Luis / Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244
Canary Islands: Inter-island air transport 3. This has led to a considerable increase in round trip passengers (1975 - 2002) services by sea. For example, between the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria there are 11 frequencies 2500000 a day each way, and the same is true between Lanza- 2000000 rote and Fuerteventura. There are 6 between Tenerife and La Gomera. This gives the passenger more time 1500000 available at their destination for a one-day return trip than is normal on an interinsular network. Passengers 1000000 4. Proliferation over the last few years of interinsular
500000 shipping connections between nearest pairs of ports on neighbouring islands because land transport is 0 quicker. 5. The capacity on board the ships is very high and 1975 1978 1982 1987 1990 1993 1994 1995 1997 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 some ferries can carry over 1000 passengers. Even Years the fast ferries can carry nearly 900 passengers which Fig. 1. means that should be no problem with availability of seats. In reference to air transport, the occupancy ratio is around 80% and creates problems with seat Therefore, air transport for peripheral territories, availability. particularly for the Canary Islands, has become a fun- damental factor in their development and this has been However, between islands where there are no high- recognised in many studies over the last few years, in the speed craft, or there is over 2 h sailing time, air transport Canary Islands as well as in other areas (Canary Gov- is used far more heavily than shipping. For example, sea ernment, 1985: Gobierno de Canarias, 1985; Sri Inter- transport between Lanzarote and Gran Canaria carried national, 1992; Hernandez Luis, 1994; Commission 62,000 passengers in 2001 as against the 414,000 air of the European Communities, 1995; Graham, 1998; passengers. On the other hand, between the two central Barret, 1999; Sjølander, 1999; Williams, 1999; Bowen, islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, with high-speed 2000; Ramos, 2001). Even so, it must be stressed that in ships and crossings of from 1 to 11 h, air traffic totalled 2002 inter-island passengers by sea transport outstripped 2 only 461,000 passengers against sea transport’s 1.4 air traffic passengers by 100% reaching a figure of just million (Table 4). over 4.4 million (Figs. 2 and 3). This is due to several In conclusion, air traffic is important for interinsular factors: traffic for all the islands but particularly for Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma and El Hierro. Door to door 1. Over the last few years high-speed ships have been transport between island capital cities, even with the introduced (jet-foils and fast-ferries). latest fast ferries, still takes between 50% and 140% 2. Liberalisation of the shipping market since 1995. This more time than by air transport. What is more, these has allowed other operators to come into the Canary islands suffer serious deficiencies in health, education, Islands with noticeable reductions in fares since then. administrative, and other services. Only Tenerife and On the other hand, certain initiatives in the airborne Gran Canaria have sufficient of these services. 23% of sector have not prospered. 7 interinsular trips of passengers from the non-central islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro) last only one day and 64% have a duration of between 2 and 3 days. In contrast 45% 7 The introduction in the interinsular air traffic market of Air Europa Express in 1997 with their 64 seat ATP, was replaced in 1998 that travel between the two central islands (Tenerife by Canarias Regional Air reintroducing these planes until they and Gran Canaria) return the same day (Ministerio abandoned the interinsular network at the beginning of the next year. de Obras Publicas y Transportes, 1993). The greater Air Atlantic (later called Atlantic Airways) also started up in 1998 with number of frequencies and combinations of sea and air 19 seater Beechcraft 1900 D, ending in bankruptcy at the end of 2000. traffic between the central islands makes it possible to Only Navegacio n y Servicios A ereos Canarios (NAYSA), with over 30 years experience in cargo traffic using Beechcraft 1900 D, survive in do the trip within the same day. However, the shorter interinsular passenger traffic after joining this market at the end of time available on a central island visited by the inhab- 1998. They only operated the routes with a very low density of itants of a peripheral island, together with the defi- passenger traffic. Currently there are still companies interested in the ciency of seats in peak hours makes a day return trip market; Venezuelan Santa B arbara commenced with two ATR-72 more difficult this means there is the added cost of planes in March of 2003 with the name of Islas Airways with a plan to add two more planes by the end of the year. Obviously they must get to travellers from those islands having to stay the night, know the characteristics of the Canary network and, above all, they subsistence and loss of working time the next day (Figs. must have the consolidation and experience that the other lines lacked. 4 and 5). J.A . Herna ndez Luis / Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244 239
17ºW 14ºW
Spain
co 16ºW 15ºW Canary Islands oc or To Madr id (150 min.) M
18ºW
To Madr id (150 min.) LA GRACIOSA To Madr id (150 min.) LANZAROTE
29ºN 29ºN Guasimeta LA PALMA
n.) -72 (60 mi SantaC ruzd e ATR LOBOS La Palma in.) .) 5 m 5 min (4 -72 (4 900 ATR ft 1 Mazo cra ATR- ech 72 (25 min.) Be AT Los Rodeos R-72 (40 min ATR-72 (40 min.) Puerto delR osario ) .) . TENERIFE SANTA CRUZ n i .) ) DE TENERIFE in El Matorral m n. mi m 0 5 5 A (3 2 (2 T ( 0 R 2 .) 0 -7 -7 min 0 9 2 LA GOMERA t1 TR 30 0 ( ( af 25 A 72 9 r - hc m TR 1 ec in. LASP ALMASD E A t Be ) f GRAN CANARIA a FUERTEVENTURA r c SanS ebastián TenerifeS ur
h c n.) de La Gomera e i 28ºN m e Alajeró (30 B Beec 28ºN 72 hcraft 1900 ( R- 40 min.) AT min.) Gando LosC angrejos Beechcraft1900 (45
Valverde EL HIERRO GRANCANARIA
14ºW
Air Lines Air Lines (only summer) Capital City Airports
© José Ángel Hernández Luis, 2002 18ºW 17ºW 16ºW 15ºW
Fig. 2.
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Spain ToS pain ,C ád iz (36h .4 5m in.) o 16ºW 15ºW Canary Islands co o or M
18ºW LA GRACIOSA
LANZAROTE
29ºN 29ºN A T L A E A LA PALMA N T I C S PlayaB lanca
) Ferry . n (35m in.) i SantaC ruzd e 5 min.) m diz (65 h. 4 ) ) LOBOS o Spain, Cá min. in 0 La Palma T (540 m Corralejo 8 rry 1 Fe . 15 ( h y 4 r (4 r diz e á F , C F ain er Sp ry SANTA CRUZ o Puerto delR osario ( T 23 TENERIFE DE TENERIFE 0 T .); m F o Spa in i F err in, m n a y (2 Cádi .) s 40 m z (48 420 t- in.) h. 15 y ( fe Jet- min. rr rr foil ) Fe y (80 LA GOMERA (6 m FUERTEVENTURA 5 in m .) in SanS ebastián .) de La Gomera Ferry (22 .) Fast-fe 0 min.) Jet in rry (35 min.) Agaete -foil (80 min Morro Jable m Ferry LASP ALMASD E .) 80 (80 min.) LosC ristianos erry (4 28ºN GRAN CANARIA F 28ºN n.) EL HIERRO 0 mi y (23 Ferr
Valverde (Puertod eL aE staca) GRAN CANARIA
14ºW
©José Ángel Hernández Luis,2002 18ºW 17ºW 16ºW 15ºW
Fig. 3.
There has been a significant increase in air transport eight airports handled over 29.9 million passengers in in the Canary Islands over the last few years and the 2001. Although it has been necessary to construct three 240 J.A . Herna ndez Luis / Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244 Table 4 of the day when the tourist charter flights come in from Regular interinsular passenger traffic in the Canary Islands in 2001 northern Europe. Routes By air By sea Therefore, the absence of serious congestion helps Gran Canaria–Tenerife 460,561 1407,346 the growth of air transport between the islands and the Tenerife–La Gomera 13,836 1263,811 outside world. However, air transport is one of the Lanzarote–Fuerteventura – 908,676 most polluting modes per traffic unit and the European Gran Canaria–Fuerteventura 382,432 400,946 Tenerife–La Palma 413,639 196,942 Union’s General Directorate for Energy and Transport Gran Canaria–Lanzarote 414,210 61,795 are trying to incentivise other modes and reduce the Tenerife–El Hierro 119,842 123,626 external costs of pollution (European Commission, Tenerife–Lanzarote 184,719 11,259 2001; EUROSTAT, 2001). Within the Islands there is no Tenerife–Fuerteventura 113,338 28,538 alternative apart from short sea shipping and it has been Gran Canaria–La Palma 82,022 3,903 Gran Canaria–La Gomera 8,368 – demonstrated that even the ferries cannot compete in Gran Canaria–El Hierro 8,366 – terms of time. The only exception is between Lanzarote Lanzarote–La Palma 2,221 – and Fuerteventura with a 35 min crossing. However the El Hierro–La Palma 1,269 – new fast ferries are competitive on some routes but Total 2204,823 4406,842 consume more fuel than aircraft. According to data Source: Air companies and shipping lines. collected by the author, fuel consumption per seat on jet-foils on the route Tenerife–Gran Canaria is 8.4 litres (6.8 litres for the fast ferry between Agaete and Santa new landing strips, for a peripheral region such as the Cruz de Tenerife). The consumption per seat of an ATR- Canary Islands there are no serious congestion problems 72 aeroplane is 5.25 litres per seat. In any case, these as in parts of mainland Europe, such as northern France values refer to 100% occupation in all means of trans- and northern Spain, or the United States of America port. The real analysis, taking into account an average (Button et al., 1999; Graham and Guyer, 1999; Graham, occupation would be as follows: jet-foil: 11.8 litres; fast 2000). In fact, the main air movements on a regular basis ferry Agaete–Santa Cruz de Tenerife: 11.9; and ATR-72: between the islands and the Iberian Peninsula are early 6.8 litres per seat. If we also take into account the huge in the morning and late in the evening according to amount of raw materials and the energy needed to build demand. This benefits the airport system itself on the a ship as against an airplane, the difference would be in Canary Islands since their peak times are in the middle favour of the plane.
Fig. 4. J.A . Herna ndez Luis / Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244 241
17ºW 14ºW
Spain
o 16ºW 15ºW Canary Islands cc o or M
18ºW LA GRACIOSA
LANZAROTE
29ºN 29ºN Guasimeta LA PALMA
SantaC ruzd e LOBOS La Palma
Mazo Los Rodeos TENERIFE Puerto del Rosario SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE El Matorral LA GOMERA LASP ALMASD E GRAN CANARIA FUERTEVENTURA SanS ebastián Tenerife Sur de La Gomera 28ºN Alajeró 28ºN
Gando LosC angrejos
Valverde 14ºW
EL HIERRO 500 GRAN CANARIA 400 Passengers (in thousands) 300 200 100 50
Air connections (only summer)
© José Ángel Hernández Luis, 2002 18ºW 17ºW 16ºW 15ºW
Fig. 5.
Table 5 Load factors in the regular interinsular air network 2001 (in percentages) Lines Days Total Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Gran Canaria–Tenerife N. 68 71 76 78 80 60 61 71 Tenerife N.–Gran Canaria 67 75 76 77 78 56 68 71 Gran Canaria–Tenerife S. 86 81 83 88 90 86 86 86 Tenerife S.–Gran Canaria 83 80 83 87 84 81 84 83 Gran Canaria–Lanzarote 81 77 79 82 84 76 78 80 Lanzarote–Gran Canaria 78 73 77 79 83 76 82 78 Gran Canaria–Fuerteventura 77 77 81 84 89 70 75 79 Fuerteventura–Gran Canaria 77 75 80 84 89 70 82 80 Gran Canaria–La Palma 77 64 70 76 82 75 80 75 La Palma–Gran Canaria 72 61 62 70 76 73 90 72 Gran Canaria–La Gomera 68 56 55 65 72 56 72 63 La Gomera–Gran Canaria 58 53 52 60 72 52 77 60 Tenerife N.–Lanzarote 81 73 72 76 82 79 83 78 Lanzarote–Tenerife N. 71 64 69 72 79 76 81 73 Tenerife N.–Fuerteventura 83 78 80 79 85 77 83 81 Fuerteventura–Tenerife N. 81 75 74 77 83 80 88 80 Tenerife N.–La Palma 79 76 77 80 86 78 74 79 La Palma–Tenerife N. 81 74 73 77 81 72 85 78 Tenerife N.–El Hierro 67 68 70 75 88 81 70 74 El Hierro–Tenerife N. 71 67 72 71 79 68 88 74 Tenerife N.–La Gomera 60 52 48 52 60 43 45 52 La Gomera–Tenerife N. 55 52 49 48 62 39 52 51 Total 75 73 75 78 83 72 78 76 Only daily frequencies. L.F. > 80; L.F. > 85; L.F. > 90. Source: Department of Fomento. 242 J.A . Herna ndez Luis / Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244
Table 6 Average regular offer per week of air seats in the time blocks of greatest demand in the Canary Islands (1983–2002) Lines Seasons Winter 1983/1984 Winter 1992/1993 Winter 2001/2002 Variation 1983/2002 07.00– 20.00 h 07.00– 20.00 h 07.00– 20.00 h 07.00– 20.00 h 08.30 h and + 08.30 h and + 08.30 h and + 08.30 h and + Gran Canaria–Tenerife N. 110 53 136 136 152 204 38.18 284.91 Tenerife N.–Gran Canaria 110 53 108 195 68 136 )38.18 156.60 Gran Canaria–Tenerife S. 0 63 0 0 0 0 0 – Tenerife S.–Gran Canaria 16 69 0 0 0 19 – )72.46 Gran Canaria–Lanzarote 160 110 110 110 136 68 )15 )38.18 Lanzarote–Gran Canaria 0 110 0 110 68 73 – )33.64 Gran Canaria–Fuerteventura 137 0 110 110 68 68 )50.36 – Fuerteventura–Gran Canaria 0 0 0 178 0 68 0 – Gran Canaria–La Palma 0 0 40 0 0 68 – – La Palma–Gran Canaria 0 0 0 0 0 68 – – Gran Canaria–La Gomera – – – – 0 0 – – La Gomera–Gran Canaria – – – – 0 0 – – Tenerife N.–Lanzarote 0 0 68 0 68 5a –– Lanzarote–Tenerife N. 0 0 0 68 0 68 (+5)a –– Tenerife N.–Fuerteventura 0 0 68 0 29 0 – – Fuerteventura–Tenerife N. 0 0 0 40 0 68 – – Tenerife N.–La Palma 160a 0 68 0 136 68 )15 – La Palma–Tenerife N. 0 0 0 0 68 68 – – Tenerife N.–El Hierro 0 0 0 0 68 0 – – El Hierro–Tenerife N. 0 0 0 0 0 0 – – Tenerife N.–La Gomera – – – – 16 0 – – La Gomera–Tenerife N. – – – – 0 0 – – Total 693 458 708 947 877 1.054 26.55 130.13 Only daily frequencies. Source: Department of Fomento. a These services are operated by Tenerife South airport.
4. Brief analysis of the quality of the air service provided 20–25% of seats are never used. 10 The result is that all occupancy over 75–80% is due to waiting lists at the Air transport consumes less fuel per passenger than airports. Furthermore other people decide to take the fast shipping and has an availability of seats per fre- ship or not to travel. quency that is more tailored to the demand for the Even so, the number of return trips made in the same area. 8 day is very high (45% between Tenerife and Gran One measure of quality is the seat occupancy and the Canaria and 23% with other islands). This could be even air transport network surpassed the recommended value higher if the timetables and availability could allow for of 75% by several points and the situation is worse at the returning the same day. Table 6 makes a comparison weekend (Table 5). 9 A more serious situation is created between the times with the highest demand for the sea- in the peripheral islands where seat occupancy is higher son 2001–2002 with the situation one and two decades and they are deficient in general public services as well as ago. fast sea transport. The capacity has improved greatly but the peripheral These high figures could be even higher if the pa- islands are still worse off. In fact, several airlines routes ssenger wanting to travel could find a seat more easily have reduced their offer of seats before 08:30 h and after on the reservation systems. It has been estimated that 20:00 h whereas others still do not provide any seats at all for these time blocks. The deficiency in capacity provided by the current operators and the absence of any competition has led to 8 Interinsular demand prefers a large range of frequencies in the day. In 1985 between 13 and 18 frequencies a day were recommended a serious imbalance between demand and supply. For for airplanes with 60 seats (METRA/SEIS, 1985). This system could not be achieved with shipping without subsidy since the fast ferries provide 900 seats per trip and the jet-foils nearly 290. 9 In Resolution of 30th July 1988 already mentioned, article 5 is 10 Figure provided by the Departamento de Control de Gestio n quoted in that should an operator surpass the occupation index of (Management Control) of the interinsular air company Binter Cana- 75%, it must increase its offer to reduce this figure. rias. J.A . Herna ndez Luis / Journal of Transport Geography 12 (2004) 235–244 243 territorial integration, the availability of sufficient time Bowen, J., 2000. Airline hubs in Southeast Asia: national economic to conclude business on the island visited is vital, and development and nodal accessibility. Journal of Transport Geog- this availability is always less on the route from the raphy 8 (1), 25–41. Brookfield, H.C., 1980. The transport factor in island development. In: peripheral to the central island (Hernandez Luis, 2000). Shand, R.T. (Ed.), The Island States of the Pacific and Indian Oceans: This is because the operational headquarters of the Anatomy of Development. Development Studies Centre Monograph aeroplanes is on the central islands and this works No. 23. Australian National University, Canberra, pp. 201–238. against the peripheral island passenger who is in greater Button, K.J., Aisling, A.J., Reynolds-Feighan, J., 1999. An assessment need of travel due to the lack of general public services of the capacity and congestion levels at European airports. Journal of Air Transport Management 5 (3), 113–134. on their island. Button, K.J., Taylor, S., 2000. International air transportation and economic development. Journal of Air Transport Management 6 (4), 209–222. 5. Conclusions Coccossis, H., Nijkamp, P. (Eds.), 1995. Overcoming Isolation: Information and Transportation Networks in Development Strat- The basic principle of the Trans-European Network, egies for Peripheral Areas. Springer, Berlin. and its subsidiary, the Trans-Insular Axis in the Canary Commission of the European Communities, 1995. Trans-European Transport Networks, Office for Official Publications of the Euro- Islands, is territorial cohesion through transport and pean Communities, Luxemburgo. communications. The archipelagos, particularly the Eurisles, 1996. Systems of transport in the islands, La Harmattan, Canary Islands, cannot compete in the huge European Par ıs. economy unless their ports and airports are able to European Commission, 2001. White Paper: European transport policy provide efficient transport services. Therefore, the policy for 2010: time to decide, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxemburgo. for Islands must centre on promoting the different EUROSTAT, 2001. Panorama of transport, Office for Official Pub- means of transport, air transport in this case, in order to lications of the European Communities, Luxemburgo. support this cohesion. Fundacion Tomillo, 2001. Los costes de ultraperiferia de la econom ıa Within the framework of liberalising European air canaria, Consejer ıa de Econom ıa, Hacienda y Comercio, Santa transport, the interinsular network cannot be left en- Cruz de Tenerife. Gobierno de Canarias, 1985. El transporte interinsular canario tirely to air companies’ business criteria. For this reason ‘‘transporte a ereo’’, Consejer ıa de Turismo y Transportes, Las the obligation of public service must be promoted al- Palmas de Gran Canaria, unpublished. though it is currently a concept that is not fully devel- Gobierno de Canarias, 1998a. Libro Blanco de los transportes en oped in the Canary Islands as it will provide frequencies, Canarias, Consejer ıa de Turismo y Transportes, Las Palmas de timetables, occupation levels, etc., that do not agree with Gran Canaria. Gobierno de Canarias, 1998b. Plan Director de Infraestructuras de demand, specially for users on the peripheral islands. Canarias, Consejer ıa de Obras Publicas, Vivienda y Aguas, Santa The alternative is to increase the size of the current Cruz de Tenerife (CD-Rom). operator or to introduce a new company with experience Graham, B., 1998. Liberalization, regional economic development and in this type of network. In this case, in March 2003, a the geography of demand for air transport in the European Union. new airline company began to operate in the Canary Journal of Transport Geography 6 (2), 87–104. 11 Graham, B., Guyer, C., 1999. Environmental sustainability, airport Islands. This has created an increase in frequencies, capacity and European air transport liberalization: irreconcilable reduced occupation ratios, a reduction in the current goals? Journal of Transport Geography 7 (3), 165–180. high fares and even complementary timetables between Graham, A., 2000. Demand for leisure air travel and limits to growth. the companies. This stimulates territorial cohesion Journal of Air Transport Management 6 (2), 109–118. across the Trans-Insular Axis in the Canary Islands and Guillaumin, M.P., 2001. La dimension ultraperipherique de laUnion Europeenne. Available from
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