Fiumicino Airport, from boarding to baggage: a war of appeals on ground services

It appears that the managing director of Aviapartner Handling, whose name is not given in the judgment, had not even declared in the tender documents that he had this conviction. The judgment reads: "... it is apparent from the documents in the file that, in view of the information acquired concerning the existence of the aforementioned precedent for the managing director of Aviapartner, falling within the relevant three-year period (given that the judgment bears the date 12.11.2020, nor did the parties plead the existence of an earlier "finding" capable of causing the dies a quo to be backdated), no specific investigation was carried out by the contracting authority, either with regard to the relevance of the fact in itself, or with regard to the relevance that, for the purposes of possible exclusion from the tendering procedure, the failure to make a statement by the tenderer could have had".

'It follows from the foregoing that the fourth additional plea is well-founded, in the terms set out above, and the annulment should accordingly be ordered

of the award of the tender in favour of Aviapartner Handling Spa _ the Regional Administrative Court ruled _ and of all the consequential and prior acts, starting with those concerning the procedure for verifying the fulfilment of the requirements set out in the Tender Rules. The contracting authority will have to resume the procedure from the assessment of the reliability and professional integrity of Aviapartner Handling Spa, for the purposes of the possible integration of the causes of exclusion referred to in Article 80, co. 5, lett. c) and c-bis), Legislative Decree no. 50/2016".

In its final ruling, the TAR sent the ball back into AdR's court, as it established the "obligation for the contracting station to resume the proceedings from the assessment of the reliability and professional integrity of Aviapartner Handling Spa., for the purposes of the possible integration of the causes of exclusion provided for in Article 80, co. 5, letter c) and c-bis), of Legislative Decree no. 50/2016". Theoretically, AdR could have decided either to exclude Aviapartner and in that case readmit Swissport among the three winners, or to consider Aviapartner's credentials as valid, despite the CEO's previous conviction for improper fraudulent bankruptcy, and therefore to confirm the outcome of the tender already announced 13 months ago.

AdR, according to what has been learnt by Il Sole 24 Ore, has resumed the process of verifying the requirements of Aviapartner, with a preliminary investigation that has taken into account every aspect relevant to the assessment of that company's reliability and professional integrity. The airport operator notes that Aviapartner has been operating at Fiumicino for the last eight years in the provision of the same handling services and employs over one thousand employees at the airport.

According to what has been reported to Sole 24 Ore by authoritative sources, AdR in the last few hours has confirmed the awarding of the tender to the three winning operators according to the ranking list already drawn up, including Aviapartner, and therefore the confirmation of the exclusion of Swissport. The latter had also filed a second appeal on other grounds, which was rejected by the TAR.

In this scenario, the legal war will not end. Because Swissport will file a new appeal to the administrative justice. While for the operation of the services there should be an extension of the activity of the current operators by a few months, at least until March 2025.

If Swissport's exclusion is confirmed, the fate of the 1,800 former Alitalia employees that the company hired two years ago will have to be decided. Theoretically, the workers should be absorbed by the operators awarded the tender who will provide services to the airlines already customers of Swissport, among which is Ita, Fiumicino's main company. According to airport sources it would be the new entrant Aviation Handling that would be the real contender for the service provider contract at Ita and thus the competitor that has moved to throw Swissport out of Fiumicino. Aviation Handling has already declared that it will invest more than 20 million euros in ground services and that it will absorb 1,800 employees at Fiumicino: the figures coincide with Swissport's former Alitalia staff. It remains to be seen what the Tar or the Council of State will decide.