Following an open tender contest, Iberia Airport Services’ licenses to provide ramp services to third-party clients at nine Spanish Airports have not been renewed. The airline vows to review the competition's scores and take appropriate actions.
On Tuesday (September 26, 2023), Iberia Airport Services (IAS) expressed their perplexity as licenses to handle third-party ramp services at nine Spanish Airports had not been renewed by airport operator Aena. The impacted airports include Barcelona, Mallorca, Málaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Ibiza and Bilbao. Aena’s decision followed an open tender, and Iberia Airport Services does not believe their demonstrated qualification and competitiveness over the past seven years has been reflected in the result.
According to Iberia, IAS delivered punctuality rates higher than 99.5 percent at the impacted airports, much higher than the required specifications, while adding new clients with a high degree of satisfaction. Additionally, Iberia Airport Services’ economic offer at all of these airports included substantially higher discounts than the previous contest, in which Iberia received a license at all of them. IAS has also committed to investing over €120 million in new equipment, upgrading 80 percent of their GSE fleet with electric vehicles to achieve net zero emissions by 2025.
In technical terms, Iberia claims that their offer exceeded the requirements included in Aena’s specifications, including areas such as Innovation, quality, safety and sustainability, which were all assessed during the bidding process. Having now been outbid for third-party ramp services at nine Spanish airports, Iberia plans to begin a thorough review of the scores at each contested airport, and has vowed the take appropriate actions in response.
Source: Iberia