Baggage-Handling Shake-Up Looms at Lisbon, Porto and Faro Airports

Passengers flying out of Portugal’s busiest gateways next summer may never notice it, but the race to decide who loads their bags and guides their aircraft has taken an unexpected twist. A technical scoring exercise has nudged long-time provider Menzies Aviation into second place in the ground-handling tender for Lisbon, Porto and Faro, opening the door for a Spanish-backed newcomer and triggering a formal dispute that could run for months.

Why the points matter

A single spreadsheet line—labelled ground handling tender—has suddenly become the talk of airport canteens from Lisbon to Faro. The regulator ANAC asked bidders to simulate a resource allocation exercise, detailing everything from forklift drivers to push-back tractors. In that model, the Clece/South consortium edged ahead with 95.2523 points, while Menzies Aviation followed at 93.0526 points. The two-point gap looks tiny, yet under the rules it vaults Clece/South into provisional first place for a seven-year licence that covers Portugal’s three largest tourist entry points.

How the scoring tipped the scales

Insiders say the decisive element was a pair of theoretical scenarios that stressed the bidders’ ability to deploy human resources and vehicles during irregular operations. Factors such as equipment age, ESG indicators and overall environmental footprint were weighted equally, and on those markers the proposals were tied. What separated them was the share of staff on permanent contracts and perceived operational continuity, translating into a 2.1997-point gap that Clece/South converted into victory. Even though the airports are managed by VINCI Airports, the French group’s usual economic/financial/ESG split was not directly applied; the tender relied on bespoke criteria crafted by ANAC.

Implications for passengers and workers

Behind the decimal points stand more than 3,500 employees wearing Menzies uniforms. The SITAVA union has warned that removing the incumbent could jeopardise job security just as Portugal prepares for another record tourism year. Any spike in airport congestion or baggage delays during the peak summer schedule would land squarely on the new handler’s shoulders. To cushion the transition, authorities granted a one-year licence extension to all current operators, yet concerns over labour instability and stalled collective bargaining persist.

What happens next

Menzies has already filed a formal appeal and, if needed, is prepared to move the fight to an administrative court. That sets up a period of timeline uncertainty, during which ANAC must juggle the bidder’s objections with the airports’ transition plan to guarantee uninterrupted service reliability for Portuguese travellers. Government sources stress that oversight will tighten as the holiday period approaches, but until the legal dust settles the ultimate ground-handling lineup for 2026 remains anything but final.