According to the decree-law published in Diário da República, the granted licenses are extended until April 19, 2025.

“It is necessary to create conditions to maintain the regular functioning of airport infrastructures and avoid the occurrence of breaks in the provision of ground handling services until their completion, taking into account the change in the selection model”.

Previously, the authorised number of ground handling service providers was limited to two, at Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports, in relation to the categories of baggage handling, cargo and mail handling and assistance to runway operations, with nine public tenders launched. But the terms did not coincide with each other, “given the different completion dates of the aforementioned tenders and the granting of licenses”.

In view of the revocation of this order, the Government was given the possibility of adopting a new model for selecting the provider of ground handling services for third parties at airports with imposed limitations.

“Taking into account the experience gained in the meantime and taking into account the inherent slowness and high complexity of this type of competitive procedures, it is necessary to create a regime that allows the extension of the term of licenses currently in force until the license is awarded to the newly selected service provider, allowing, in this way, avoid the occurrence of unpredictable situations that could affect the normal development of the procedure and jeopardize the continuity of the provision of ground handling services, a situation that would constitute a serious harm to the public interest”, it reads.

Therefore, the Government intends to ensure that there are no interruptions in the provision of ground-handling services at the national airports of Lisbon, Porto and Faro.

The decree law comes into force on November 9.