Aena is putting 37 fuel licenses out to tender for 39 airports of the net. These fuel licenses are expected to last for seven years. A previous consultation process is being started with airlines.
Thus, Aena is starting to renew the fuel licenses through a workshop which is open to the airport user committee in which airlines are integrated. This is intended for them to participate in the definition of the tender terms and conditions.
The consultation process is expected to last for two months. With its conclusions, Aena will define and publish the terms and conditions.
A two-phased tender
In the first phase Aena will put seven fuel licenses out to tender. These will include into-plane services—fuel filling and discharge—as well as fuel storage in 19 airports (with less than a million passengers per year). Those airports will be spread in lots. The airports included in this phase are: A Coruña, Asturias, Valladolid, San Sebastián, León, Melilla, Badajoz, Córdoba, Almería, Granada, Reus, Sabadell, Huesca and Albacete. All these airports will have an only fuel supplier.
In the second phase Aena will put out to tender only the services which contracts have expired or are due to expire in 2014. This will include 30 fuel licenses for the following airports: Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Málaga, Gran Canaria, Alicante, Tenerife, Ibiza, Valencia, Fuerteventura, Bilbao, Sevilla, Tenerife North, Girona, Menorca, Santiago, Vitoria, Vigo, La Palma and El Hierro.
In the cases of Madrid and Barcelona, both to have 3 suppliers, only one license in each airport will be tendered. The rest of contracts for these airports are still in force.
In the smaller airports, the into-plane and storage services go together. This way, the fuel supplier must perform both activities.
However, in the bigger airports, the into-plane services and the storage have different fuel licenses. Also, in most of these airports there will be two different suppliers.
Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Tenerife South, Málaga and Gran Canaria have over 80% of the activity. Actually, Madrid gets nearly half of the supply.
Currently, there are 11 airports that have two into-plane licenses. In the next tender, this amount is expected to increase until 14 airports.
According to Aena SA, previously Aena Aeropuertos this tender seeks to increase competition aiming to improve quality of service and to decrease prices.
These licenses are different from the ramp handling licenses
The licenses obtained through this tender are independent from the ramp handling licences.
Even though the fuel services are a part of the Ramp Handling services, they are put out to tender separately “because of the scope and content”.
In 2013, nearly 6.3 million cubic meters were provided to airlines in the Spanish airports.
Ramp handling licences expected for the end of this year
Aena are dealing with the ramp handling licences separately. The deadline to place bids for the 22 smaller airports was 20th of March. As for the bigger airports (including Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, Alicante and Palma among others), the deadline is expected to be fixed during this summer.
Aena expects to announce the results of this tender between November and December this year. The new operators should start working in the first quarter of 2015.
Photo: / Carlos Manuel Reyes Santos
