“In terms of the report produced by Parpública, we fundamentally concluded that the two proposals display equivalent merit and contain attributes that enable us to assume that they may be improved over the course of the negotiating process,” the resolution detailed.
The government decided at the Council of Ministers meeting, held late last week to follow the advice given by the state management entity Parpública and reject the proposal submitted by Quifel, headed by Miguel Pais do Amaral, as it did not meet “the minimal legal requirements stipulated by the tender.”
The government has correspondingly mandated the State Secretaries for Transport, Sérgio Monteiro, and the Treasury, Isabel Castelo Branco, to advance with negotiations with the two remaining consortia alongside representatives from Parpública.
The proposal from Gérman Efromovich, owner of Avianca airline and the Synergy group, includes the delivery of 12 new Airbus planes and the renewal of the Portugália fleet with Embraer jets through to 2016 with the bid also involving 250 million euros in capital funding according to press reports.
David Neeleman, boss of the Brazilian airliner Azul and in partnership with Humberto Pedrosa, head of the Barraqueiro coach and logistics group, in turn is promising to chip in with 53 new planes for TAP and investment of 350 million euros.
The privatisation process is scheduled for completion prior to parliament’s summer recess and the general election due in early autumn.
In related news, Portugal’s economy minister, António Pires de Lima, has confirmed that he expects a decision regarding the privatisation of flag-carrier TAP to be presented at the cabinet meeting in the first fortnight of June.
Pires de Lima said that “it is very important that TAP is privatised”, and that any alternative would be “a great loss” for the company in terms of routes and competitiveness.