Canary Islands hub

[Atlanticspotter]

Would you think the Canary Islands could become the next hub to connect Northern Europe with South America or North America with Africa? Now a days there are airlines doing this, using Gran Canaria and Tenerife as a stopover, clearly showing that the Islands offer a strategic location for these sort of operations.

[Lien Savo]

To wish is free...

[Gabriel]

Why would airlines do that? What's the benefit?

[ATLcrew]

Would you think the Canary Islands could become the next hub to connect Northern Europe with South America or North America with Africa?

Absolutely. Starting next week.

[LH-B744]

Would you think the Canary Islands could become the next hub to connect Northern Europe with South America or North America with Africa? Now a days there are airlines doing this, using Gran Canaria and Tenerife as a stopover, clearly showing that the Islands offer a strategic location for these sort of operations.

Hey. First of all, let me welcome you to the endless world of jetphotos. Good that you landed here. But now let me show you what also happened during the procedures which you describe. You pretty much tell a true story about aviation in the late 1970s, don't you.

The Canary Islands as a connection between Northern Europe and America. Unfortunately, that theoretically quite brilliant idea resulted in definitely the most devilish aviation catastrophe during half a century which the Boeing 747 now is in the air and I still expect more.

Los Rodeos International airport GCXO, March 27th 1977. The two long haul jets involved on that infamous day in aviation.
#1 Pan Am 'Clipper Victor', a Boeing 747-100 with 394 souls (!) on board, on her way from LAX with a stop in NYC, scheduled arrival was Gran Canaria, where all passengers of that exclusive charter flight should board a cruise ship. But that never happened. The alternate airport was Los Rodeos, because Gran Canaria was temporarily closed.
#2 PH-BUF, a KLM Boeing 742B with 235 passengers and 14 crew members on board, during the closure of Gran Canaria also with Los Rodeos as the alternate airport.

Los Rodeos today still is a quite small airfield, only a little bit more than 5,000,000 passengers in 2018. In 1977, the airport was not bigger than today. But crowded with a fatal amount of long haul jets e.g. 747.

The result was, the KL-B742 taxied from the far West End of the 12/30 rwy, the only rwy on that airport, across this active runway (!!) to the far East End, to the rwy 30 position. The reason was, the only taxiway was crowded with alot of other diverted jets.
Now, imagine that Clipper Victor, who approached the Canaries from the other end of the world, the US Pacific Coast at Los Angeles, taxied into position at the rwy 12 position. Thus, on that same 12/30 runway, you have two international Boeing 747 flights ready for take off, with all in all 643 souls on board, in two 747s.

Now add dense fog to that scenario to that crowded airfield. Van Zanten, who was the Flight Captain in the KL-B742, thought that he should take off without that his F/O completed the t/o request!
[...]
The Pan Am 747 is still sitting almost on the opposite end of that one 12/30 runway when Van Zanten used take off thrust in his 747 on GCXO rwy 30.

The result. 583 dead souls
plus 61 heavily injured humans.

This in my eyes was the end for Los Rodeos as a hub between Northern Europe and America. Nowadays, a rather unimportant European airline uses the 744 and the 748 for nonstop flights to Rio Galeao, to Guarulhos and to Buenos Aires.

The rather modern 747 versions, 744 and later, do not have to stop at the Canaries.

[LH-B744]

Absolutely. Starting next week.

Oh ATL. Most of the time I go from the threadstarter directly or nonstop to my answer. Seems like a mistake. Man, should you lie to such shiny new forum members. I mean, he still did not write his second forum entry, not since he joined this forum last Wednesday. Thats ur fault!

I just wonder, was I too hard with him in my #5.

I mean, reality is hard. And his idea was romantic somehow. I don't have to mention the year when Los Rodeos was substituted for the first time by the Tenerife South airport, with today 11 million passengers. November 1978, right. But the 'New' Tenerife South, 41 years old today, also has only 1 runway.

ATL. Can you imagine not only an international but an intercontinental hub with only 1 runway?!
I really can't, for a 'Hub', a meeting point for airlines from the North, the East, the South and the West. Something like Lohausen International we do need, don't we. At least 2 runways, plus 3 quite comfortable Terminals.