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SWITZERLAND. Zürich Airport Chief Commercial Officer Peter Eriksson has questioned the future of airport commercial tenders, saying that unless airports are obliged to conduct open tenders then they are not the right way forward.
Talking to The Moodie Report about last week’s announcement that Zürich Airport is to extend the contracts of key commercial partners, including The Nuance Group, SSP and Autogrill, Eriksson said the airport company’s Management Board believed the process of direct negotiation was much more satisfactory.
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Zürich Airport Chief Commercial Officer Peter Eriksson: “We don’t like it [open tendering] at all.” |
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Peter Eriksson on the future of the airport tender process |
“We don’t like it [open tendering] at all,” he said. “If you ask me personally, I think that the tender processes which are done today are totally abnormal if you look at the domestic market and domestic businesses. It [the airport tender system] will not exist in ten years.
“The tender process from my point of view has no future. If we start growing the knowhow and the professionalism in the airports there’s no reasons to do a tender if you’re not legally obliged to do it.”
Eriksson said an airport can better achieve its aims without being bound by the “tight corset” of periodic open tenders, a process he described last week as “a beauty contest”.
Elaborating on the extension decisions, Eriksson told The Moodie Report: “We are in a major construction phase now, redesigning all passenger processes with a centralised security check with the new Pier B.
“In the middle of this phase, which will be finalised by the end of 2011… we need to get the right players into the boat to join the huge investment phase now.”
Describing the process that led to the reappointments, Eriksson said the airport company sat down with its various partners and suggested various financial terms, based on acute knowledge of each sector.
Negotiations then proceeded, without difficulty, to a successful conclusion, he said.
NOTE: Do you think the tender system is an anachronism in a modern industry? Have your say via The Moodie Forum below.
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