Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
Movimiento Sumar Canarias has voiced its opposition to the approval of the 2027-2031 Airport Regulation Document (Dora III) from the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, which plans to invest €1.807 billion in improving facilities and expanding the archipelago’s airports.
Party accuses government of disguising expansion as modernisation
In a statement, the party denounced that, under the pretext of modernisation, the measure in reality seeks to expand operational capacity and prepare the islands for a massive increase in visitors that, in its view, the territory can no longer withstand. For Sumar Canarias, current air traffic figures reflect a model that has exceeded all ecological and social limits.
Nearly 150,000 passengers a day and over 1,330 flights
According to the latest official data published by Aena, between January and August this year 36.3 million passengers passed through the archipelago’s terminals on 324,581 flights. This represents “unsustainable daily pressure”, with an average of almost 150,000 travellers and more than 1,330 flights every day.
“Continuing to invest public money in infrastructure geared towards unlimited growth, while Canary Islanders suffer gridlocked roads, the deterioration of their natural spaces and being priced out of the housing market, is absolutely irresponsible,” said Rubén Hernández, co-coordinator of Movimiento Sumar Canarias.
Direct link between passenger growth and the housing crisis
The party stresses the direct link between this rise in passenger numbers and the serious housing crisis suffered by residents. In its view, the diversion of properties towards holiday rentals and speculative tourism has left the local population unable to find available homes at affordable prices.
Sumar Canarias recalls that Dora III itself envisages an increase of more than five and a half million passengers at Canary Islands airports in 2031 compared with 2027 — a roadmap “completely disconnected” from the demands of the thousands of people who have taken to the streets of the islands in recent years calling for a radical change of economic model.
“Canarias does not need more airport capacity; it needs fewer people to come”
Faced with the ambitions of Aena and the Ministry of Transport, the co-coordinator declared that the Canary Islands does not need more airport capacity; it needs fewer people to come. “The modernisation of infrastructure cannot be the Trojan horse for continuing to overrun our land,” he said.
The organisation argues that political priority must focus on reducing tourism pressure to guarantee the wellbeing of the local population, protect the archipelago’s biodiversity and ensure access to the fundamental right to housing. It is calling for the introduction of eco-taxes, restrictions on property purchases by non-residents and the setting of caps on tourism capacity.
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