The head of local airline Binter Canarias, José Luis Reina, has warned that from October 1 locals who are not carrying their certificate of residence will have their ticket cancelled and will have to purchase a new one at the full price if they wish to fly.
Under new rules, introduced by central government on September 1 this year, all residents of the islands must show a residence certificate, obtained from their town hall, in order to take advantage of the 50 per cent discount on air and ferry services.
For British residents this is nothing new, they have always had to show proof of residence in order to take advantage of the discounts.
However, for locals, showing their Spanish identity card,(DNI), used to suffice and they are not happy about having to queue at their town hall and, in many cases, pay for a certificate before they can travel.
September saw a period of grace, while the new system was being bedded in, whereby residents who turned up at the airport or ferry port without their certificate were allowed to travel.
That period is now over and no excuses will be accepted. However, reports show only a tiny minority, around one per cent of passengers, arrive without their certificate.
Last year some 2.5 million passengers took advantage of the discount to travel between the islands and to and from the peninsula. The government estimates that at least 150,000 of them had no entitlement, depriving the exchequer of a considerable amount of money.
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