Asturias international connections contest leaves London and Lisbon up in the air | Present

Asturias

The contract to enable new international connections from Asturias continues its progress. The contracting table has proposed the award of six of the eight lots offered, waiting for Vueling and Volotea to justify their economic declines in the offers presented for London and Lisbon, respectively, where they start with an advantage over the rest of the companies.

The airline Ryanair has been proposed as the successful bidder for lots three, four and five to Düsseldorf, Brussels and Rome. The Irish company has offered a 19% increase in seats on each route compared to the minimum required in the specifications. Ryanair will operate at least two weekly frequencies without interruption to the airports of Düsseldorf-Weeze and Brussels-Charleroi. The airline will increase its operations with the Rome Fiumicino airport to three weekly frequencies during the summer seasons, which will maintain two weekly departures the rest of the year.

For its part, Vueling has been proposed as the winner of lots two and six, that is, Paris and a destination to choose between Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Dublin. The company has presented a better connection proposal with the French capital than Volotea, which was competing in the same lot. The links that the airline has already operated since November with Paris Orly airport, the most central of the Parisian airports, will gradually increase from the current two weekly frequencies to the three planned in the summer of 2023, reaching four weekly from 2024 Vueling’s offer on this route represents an increase of 19% with respect to the minimum frequencies required and 63% with respect to the global seats offered, as it operates with 220-seater aircraft.

Vueling has also been proposed as the winner of lot six as it obtained a higher valuation than the one offered by Ryanair to Dublin. According to its offer, it will link Asturias with Amsterdam from the next winter season with between two and three weekly departures, depending on the period of operation, also offering 25% more seats over the minimum required.

Finally, Volotea has been proposed as the winner of lot 8, for the connection with the Milan-Bergamo airport, better valued than the one offered by Ryanair. According to its offer, Volotea must operate 3 weekly departures during the summer seasons and 2 in winter from the summer season of 2023. The company has offered an increase of 29% with respect to the minimum frequencies required for the entire period, which It represents 32% more additional places than those demanded by the specifications.

London and Lisbon, waiting

The contracting table has asked Vueling and Volotea to justify the economic offer presented by the respective airlines in lots 1 and 7, connecting with London and Lisbon, respectively, as they are considered abnormally low within the comparative parameters with the rest of the offers established in the specifications.

Both airlines, which start with an advantage in each of the lots to win the award, now have 10 business days to present their justification, which will have to be analyzed by the contracting table.

Vueling’s connectivity proposal with the London-Gatwick airport, where the airline connects with the British Airways network, progressively increases the four initial frequencies to six from the summer season of 2024. For its part, Volotea proposes for Lisbon, a program with three weekly departures in summer, which are reduced to two in winter.

The companies will have the start of the next winter flight season as a maximum term for the commissioning of the routes to London, Paris, Düsseldorf, Brussels, Rome and Amsterdam and, in the case of the routes to Lisbon and Milan, the start of the 2023 summer season.

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