Expressions of interest have been invited from interested airlines for 18 daily slots at Lisbon belonging to TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon) with a decision scheduled for June 2022. Still, the successful carrier will only be able to use them for the 2022 winter.
The European Commission in December 2021 granted permission to Portugal to provide EUR2.55 billion euros (USD2.85 billion) in restructuring aid to TAP on condition that another airline receives up to 18 daily slots, free of charge, to establish a new base or expand an existing base at Lisbon airport to safeguard free competition.
The call for tenders was published on February 25 by Berlin-based management consultants Alcis Advisers, appointed by Brussels as monitoring trustees to oversee the implementation of Portugal's commitments.
However, any hope by the likes of Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) for a speedy slot transfer may be frustrated by the proposed schedule, which will see the successful bidder start using the transferred slots earliest on October 30, 2022, at the start of the 2022/2023 IATA winter season.
The Irish budget carrier has been cranking up the pressure on TAP to make the slots available by the end of February. It has threatened to cancel 20 routes from Lisbon this summer and reduce the number of its aircraft stationed there unless TAP releases its unused slots by the end of the month.
According to guidelines published by Alcis Advisers, TAP will have to make slots available that correspond within 20 minutes for short-haul and 60 minutes for long-haul flights to the slot times requested by the competitor. If TAP does not have slots within the relevant time window, it will transfer slots closest to the time requested. The arrival and departure slot times will be such as to allow for reasonable aircraft rotation by the competitor.
TAP will not be obliged to transfer:
- More than one slot before 0800L (0800Z) per aircraft;
- More than half of the total remedy slots before 1200L (1200Z);
- More slots before 2000L (2000Z) than the total remedy slots minus one slot per aircraft for short-haul flights.
If no airline is selected to receive the slots, Alcis Advice will issue another call for proposals ahead of the general slot allocation procedure for Summer 2023. Subsequent tender processes could be called until the total number of slots have been transferred at the latest by December 31, 2025.
The European Commission will assess all proposals. This process will follow two stages:
- Air carriers must submit expressions of interest within specific qualifying criteria by March 24, 2022;
- Qualifying candidates must submit their full proposals by May 12, 2022.
To qualify, interested airlines must:
- hold a valid Operating License (OL) issued by a European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)- member state, and be unconnected to TAP;
- may not have received COVID-19 recapitalisation of more than EUR250 million (USD280 million);
- must commit to operating the number of aircraft proposed at Lisbon until the end of 2025.
Amongst other things, the EC will give preference to airlines that offer:
- the largest seat capacity of Lisbon-based aircraft until the end of 2025; and
- serve the greatest number of destinations from Lisbon with direct flights until the end of 2025.
Interestingly, should there be tied bids, Brussels will give preference to the proposal best ranked by TAP - which may use any criteria of its choice, provided that they are transparent.
The Commission intends to make a decision by the week of June 13, 2022, whereafter the consultants will issue a Request for Confirmation from the potential winner. TAP will submit a draft slot transfer agreement to the highest-ranked bidder in the week of June 20, 2022, with the signing of the agreement slated for the week of June 25, 2022. "The final slot transfer agreement shall be signed within six weeks after the [June 13] Request for Confirmation, save in case of a postponement explicitly approved by TAP Air Portugal and the remedy taker", the guidelines said.
