Train crash between Iberia and Aena after the airport manager announced the result of the handling mega-contest. One of the biggest losers in the final result has been the subsidiary of the IAG group, which has been left out of El Prat and seven other airports. The reaction of the company chaired by Fernando Candela has been immediate. Iberia shows its perplexity at the result of the contest and has demanded a review of the contest scores at each airport where it has not obtained one of the licenses. It will carry out the appropriate actions that correspond to it.
The final result has been a considerable return in one of Aena’s largest contracts. There was 5 billion at stake over the next seven years. The airport manager announced this Tuesday the result of the competition for assigning licenses for ground handling, what is known as ‘handling’, at 43 airports and two heliports in the commercial network, and there were new developments. The main one: the emergence of the multinationals Aviapartner (Belgium) and Menzies (Scotland) in the large airports to the detriment of Iberia.
Of the five main airports in the Aena network in Spain, Iberia only retains a handling license in Madrid-Barajas. IAG’s ground services subsidiary currently has a presence in the country’s five large facilities. At the capital’s airport, the winners were Aviapartner, Groundforce, a company from the Globalia group, and the aforementioned Iberia.
At the Barcelona – El Prat airport there are significant changes. Until now, ground handling services are being provided by Iberia, Groundforce and Swissport. As of the entry into force of the contract that has been resolved today, Aviapartner, Menzies and Groundforce will operate at the Barcelona facilities. Iberia will disappear. Aena sources assure that the company has presented a “very good” offer, but other candidates have obtained a better score. In El Prat Iberia came in fourth position, 1.10 points behind Groundforce, which had a worse economic offer, but a better technical approach.
The same happens at the airports of Palma de Mallorca, Málaga and Alicante, where Iberia will no longer be able to offer its rates. In the Balearic Islands facilities, another Spanish company that has lost its license is Acciona. The successful bidders were Groundforce, Menzies and Swissport. In Malaga and Alicante the winners of the contest were Groundforce, Aviapartner and Menzies.
That is, Groundforce, from Globalia, obtains a handling license in the five main airports in Spain; Aviapartner and Menzies, in four; and Iberia and Swissport, in one. In the Aena contest, technical offers weighed 65% and economic offers weighed 35%.
Iberia does not understand the result of the Aena contest. The company explains in a statement that “the qualification and competitiveness demonstrated by Iberia Airport Services, which, over the last seven years, has carried out a profound transformation and has continued to significantly incorporate new clients into its portfolio with a high degree of satisfaction, has not been reflected in the result of this contest”.
Its punctuality, adds Iberia, in the airports where it has not renewed the license (Barcelona, ??Mallorca, Málaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Ibiza and Bilbao) is 99.5%, much higher than what is required by the specifications and with a high degree of customer satisfaction. In addition, “Iberia’s economic offer at all these airports included discounts substantially higher than those of the previous competition, in which Iberia obtained a license at all of them.”
Iberia has obtained five licenses nationwide to operate in a total of 29 airports. That is to say, despite having been left out of the lots in Barcelona, ??Palma, Malaga and Alicante, the IAG group company will continue to operate the handling services at the facilities in Girona, Reus, Tenerife North, Menorca, A Coruña, Santiago, Asturias, Santander, La Palma or Jérez, among others.
Despite losing presence in Barcelona, ??Palma, Malaga and Alicante, Aena sources specify that Iberia may consider continuing to provide the ‘autohandling’ service to IAG group companies. For example, in Barcelona, ??where you can continue operating for Iberia, Iberia Express, British Airways or Aer Lingus. The contest that has been resolved contemplates this option.
Once the changes in ground service companies have been carried out, the new contractors have the obligation to subrogate the personnel under the same contractual conditions. Currently, in Spain there are 11,290 employees who carry out support tasks for airlines, according to the sectoral agreement.
Aena highlights that the offers submitted to the competition will enable a notable improvement in the handling fleet at Spanish airports with the aim of making it more environmentally sustainable. According to the winning proposals, 80% of the mobile fleet will be electric by 2024. In addition, all sustainable vehicles will be achieved by 2030.
