“Sociedad Rentas Inmobiliarias” presented an inquiry to the Competition Tribunal, regarding a restriction placed by the Comisión Preventiva Central in 1997, in Dictamen N° 1.004, which prohibited participation of commercial airlines and their related companies in airport concessions, in order to exclude minor aerial navigation companies (air taxis, fire control, other services) from said prohibition.
The Competition Tribunal determined that, given the characteristics of the services offered by “small aircraft commercial transport companies” (as defined by DGAC), since these companies do not use a relevant proportion of the airport under concession, or of the facilities destined to the operation of these companies’ services, there are no apparent risks to free competition.
On the contrary, the Tribunal deemed possible to increase competition in the tender processes for public airport infrastructure, by allowing participation of these companies or their related parties. This, notwithstanding the general regulations that the Ministerio de Obras Públicas must establish in the tender bases and in the concession contracts, to prevent anticompetitive behavior towards competitors of the vertically integrated firm.