The Aviation and Airport Workers Union (Sitava) asked the Regional Government of the Azores to “immediately stop” the privatization of Azores Airlines, after the competition jury expressed reservations about the only competitor.
The public tender jury has maintained the decision to accept only one competitor in the final report, but admitted reservations regarding the ability of the Newtour/MS Aviation consortium to ensure the company's viability.
The Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday also called on the Regional Government and Azores Airlines to "carefully consider" and draw conclusions about the jury's assessment in the airline's privatisation process.
"The evaluation was very low. This is a fact that has already been disclosed and some conclusions must also be drawn from it," Mário Fortuna from the Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry told reporters when asked about the public tender for the privatisation of Azores Airlines.
In a statement, the union structure recalled that
"the jury set up to evaluate the Azores Airlines privatization process delivered, last Friday, the final report on the process", having maintained "its position already expressed in the preliminary report".
In other words, he highlighted, "only one of the consortia that competed was maintained" and even that "does not present the minimum conditions to guarantee the continuity of the company's operations".
The president of the jury for the privatization of Azores Airlines, Augusto Mateus, admitted on Friday that the jury has reservations about Newtour/MS Aviation's ability to ensure the company's future viability, warning of the need for "financial strength" to meet the requirements of the specifications.
Sitava also recalled that "the president of the jury went even further", admitting "reservations regarding the financial capacity of the consortium to guarantee the future viability of the company".
The union therefore considers that "handing over the company to this entity would be a real disaster".
"It therefore seems obvious to us that with the delivery of this report and especially with its result, this process will have to stop immediately", he highlighted, indicating: "the traumatic experience we went through must serve as an example so as not to repeat it again" .
"We now appeal to the Regional Government once again to stop the process immediately", highlighted the union, arguing that "acknowledging an error and reversing the trajectory does not weaken the Government".
In June 2022, the European Commission approved Portuguese state aid to support the airline's restructuring of €453.25 million in loans and state guarantees, providing for measures such as a reorganisation of the structure and the divestment of a controlling stake (51%).
"We delivered the final report. This final report, in essence, maintains what was already in the preliminary report", declared the president of the jury, Augusto Mateus, at a press conference at Teatro Micaelense, in Ponta Delgada, last week.
The jury maintained the score that had been awarded to Newtour/MS Aviation (46.69), the only admitted competitor, and which was contested by the consortium when the interim report was presented, in October 2023.
"In the specifications, the positive starts with a score of 25 and the maximum score is 100. The score we gave to the proposal is 46.69. It can be seen that 46.69 is closer to 25 than 100. It is not a very expressive note. We draw attention to this", he stated.
The specifications for the privatization of Azores Airlines foresee a sale of a "minimum" of 51% and a "maximum" of 85% of the company's share capital.
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