THE Ministry of transportation French declared without follow-up the previous call for tenders for the concession of the airport of Nantes – Atlantic and will officially launch a new one.
The call for tenders procedure for the re-concession of Nantes – Atlantique airport, launched by the State in October 2019, took place in an unprecedented context from all points of view, the consequences, particularly economic , of the war in Ukraine succeeding those of the health crisis, which hit the air transport sector very hard, recalls the Ministry of Transport in a press release. The State decided to declare no further action for reasons of general interest based on thelack of competition the current call for tenders procedure for the concession of Nantes – Atlantique airport.
A new call for tenders for the concession of the airport “will be launched as soon as possible, drawing all the lessons from this procedure”, indicates the ministry. The State will relaunch a procedure which will take into account the consequences of the health crisis on traffic, the necessary strengthening of environmental requirements and, above all, the expectations of local actors. To this end, a consultation of elected officials and economic players in the region will be conducted in the coming weeks to collect proposals under the aegis of the regional Prefect, to collect proposals for improvement to be made to the project.
The State will also examine with the current concessionaire the realization ofurgent investments to improve the quality of service of the platform. The State reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that Nantes – Atlantique airport can meet the region’s mobility needs, while meeting renewed safety, environmental and quality of service requirements.
Remember that the French airport platform, retained to the detriment of that of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, experienced landing failures and serial nuisances this summer. For example, a high-precision guidance system is missing (THEY), which does not allow planes to land on one of the runways in conditions of strong wind and low ceiling. In June, recalled Ouest-France, the president of Pays de la Loire and elected officials, had asked Emmanuel Macron to keep its commitments to renovate the airport, following the decision to abandon the new airport project at Notre-Dame-des-Landes. Five years after this decision, “nothing has been committed” they wrote, “and the State is still not able to provide a work schedule.”
