Ita Airways and Aeroitalia are the candidates to operate under a territorial continuity regime on the routes from Alghero to Rome and Milan.
The deadline for registering on the SardegnaCat platform, for the effective possibility of participating in the tender, has expired today, therefore there are still two companies in the field: they will receive an invitation from the Region to present offers on both routes.
The deadline had been set for February 6 by the councilor's office to make the negotiated procedure on Alghero fully legitimate with the European Union, whose routes had been deserted in the European tender which expired on December 27 last year.
The EU had written to the Region hypothesizing the risk of an infringement procedure , emphasizing that the procedure with an urgent nature was not justified due to the presence of other connections to Sardinia.
The councilor's office then had "split the tender in two", with the negotiated procedure which in fact only covers the "summer" season of air carriers (until 28 October 2023) ensuring full compliance with the rules on state aid, with the new effective one-year tender until 31 October 2024.
Sardinia has increased the auction base , which in the tender of 27 December 2022 was 13.8 million in total (8.7 in Rome and 5.1 million in Milan), offering 500 thousand euros more (9.1 million for routes to Rome and 5.2 million to Milan).
The next deadline is Monday 13 February for the presentation of offers and Tuesday 14 for any acceptance without compensation and without exclusivity.
(Unioneonline/ss)