Air carrier license: 7 firms to present offers

Seven Saudi and foreign companies have qualified for the right to present their offers to secure a license to operate both domestic and international services to and from Saudi Arabia. The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has chosen these companies out of a total 14 vying to win the Kingdom’s third air carrier license. They included consortia comprising Saudi, GCC and Chinese companies. GACA has started presenting requests for proposal to qualified companies effective from Sunday, according to a statement from the authority. The statement added: “The procedures of qualification were completed with the support of an international expert company that looked into the companies’ profiles, including their technical capabilities, substantial experience in air transport and financial capabilities to establish and operate an aviation company viably. “GACA then shortlisted the most qualified among them to present their offers.” The proposal requests furnished qualified bidders with more details and specific conditions for winning the license. It contained detailed information about the airports, destination points, volume of traffic and procedures as well as terms and conditions for choosing the winner. Once the proposal files were submitted to the qualified companies, GACA would provide documented feedback on the files to them during a meeting involving both parties in August. The statement added: “GACA will provide clarifications to all their queries to help them prepare their offers.” GACA is expected to announce the name of the licensed company by the end of September. GACA spokesman Khaled Al-Khaibary said earlier the licensed company would begin offering services by April 2013. The company will have the freedom to choose any Saudi airport as its hub and also to operate international flights. In January, GACA invited a letter of intent from aviation companies to take part in the bid for winning the license. From arabnews