Antecedents of the bidding process

By Executive Decree No. 690, the LAW FOR INVESTMENT PROMOTION AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION was issued, which establishes that "Municipalities shall be able to constitute, manage and mantain airports, being able to excercise this powers directly or delegate them to private or mixed companies through concession, association, capitalization or any other contractual mean according to the Law". The Constitutional President of Ecuador of the time, Dr. Gustavo Noboa Bejarano, authorized the Very Illustrious Municipality of Guayaquil to:

• ▸Construction, management and maintenance of the new International Airport of Guayaquil.
• ▸ Transform, improve, manage and maintain the former Simon Bolívar International Airport.

In order to carry out the contract process, the Bylaws of Guayaquil's Airport Authority were approved, a Foundation of the Very Illustrious Municipality of Guayaquil.

Bidding conditions

In November of 2002 the AAG (Guayaquil's Airport Authority) concluded the conditions for the international bidding on the airport's concession. Three international groups presented technical proposals to the AAG, consisting of the economic offer of a percentage of regulated income. These companies were:

• ▸ Corporacion America (Argentina).
• ▸ Consorcio de Agunsa (Chile) & Odebrecht (Brazil).
• ▸ Consorcio de Hidalgo and Hidalgo (Ecuador) & Aena (España).

Corporacion America's offer, consisting in payment of 50,25% of income won the process of concession on December 30, 2003.

Signing of the Concession Contract

Once the concession was appointed to Corporación América, private company Terminal Aeroportuaria de Guayaquil S.A. (TAGSA) is created in order to operate and manage the Airport of Guayaquil. The concession contract was signed on February 27, 2004 between TAGSA and the Autoridad Aeroportuaria de Guayaquil (AAG), a Foundation of the Very Illustrious Municipality of Guayaquil.

Obligations of TAGSA

Investing approximately 92 million dollars in the first 30 months and contributing with 50.25% of gross income during the period of the concession, to be deposited to the "Fiduciary Fund for the Development of Guayaquil's New International Airport" constituted to that effecto by the AAG. Starting on July 1st 2018, with the signing of the concession's seventh addendum, the percentage goes from 50.25% to 55.25%, and also states TAGSA will invest approximately 32 million US dollars in the Terminal.

Airport fees are regulated by the concession agreement and shall only be increased on a yearly basis as per the consumer index price as a result of the weighed sum of 80% of USA's inflation and 20% of Ecuador's inflation.

The concessionaire has the responsability of maintaining operations 24/7 for airport facilities and infrastructure, which include: runway, taxiways, passenger and cargo airplane platforms, security equipment, passenger security control, passenger and cargo terminal services, ramp services, fire prevention, medical services, vehicle parking services, among others.

Air traffic control services are under the direction of the Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC), state entity which controls and oversees air traffic services in the country. TAGSA provides DGAC with facilities and equipment for the fulfillment of its obligations.