OREANDA-NEWS. November 23, 2010. Vilnius International Airport (VIA) has decided to terminate one of its activities, namely technical maintenance of engineering facilities, and has entrusted it to a private company. The airport aims at reducing its operating costs and improving quality of services, reported the press-centre of Vilnius International Airport.

VIA has transferred to a private company engineering and technical administration of all engineering facilities (buildings, structures, structure constructions, engineering networks and systems, power and heating facilities, water-supply and sewerage, ventilation and air conditioning systems, luggage and passenger check, luggage transportation systems, escalators, lifts and hoists and other mechanisms) as well as execution of related works.

According to Jonas Kazenas, Head of Maintenance Division of VIA Infrastructure Department, transfer of technical maintenance of the engineering facilities to the market will allow to significantly reduce operating costs of the company and ensure efficiency and quality of the services.

“Last year, the airport costs for technical maintenance of the engineering facilities made up around LTL 3 million, whereas transfer of these services to a private company will allow reducing these costs by around LTL 1 million next year. Besides, these activities are entrusted to professionals who are able to ensure greater quality and efficiency of the services,” Mr Kazenas says.

Six Lithuanian companies participated in the procurement procedure and four of them satisfied the requirements. Tenders were evaluated on the basis of the lowest price principle and UAB Baltic Ground Services was announced the successful tenderer. A one-year contract was signed with this company, on the basis of which the execution of works started at the end of October.

According to Mr Kazenas, careful maintenance of the engineering facilities and responsible activities are highly important for continuous operation of the airport and flights. Therefore, VIA has set a half-year transitional period during which technical staff of the airport shall transfer the services to the private company.

Last year, VIA transferred the services of airport territory and premises cleaning to private service providers. Such optimisation of airport activities and abandonment of greater number of activities that are not typically characteristic of an airport allows making significant savings.