The Luxembourg-American consortium Corporacion America Airports (CAAP) has two more days to file an appeal with the Concessions Commission against the Tender Commission’s (TK) decision on the airport concession award. It is almost certain that CAAP will submit the appeal. If the appeal is rejected, CAAP is prepared to initiate arbitration proceedings at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington.
Before that, CAAP may also challenge the decision at Montenegro’s Administrative Court, though such a lawsuit would not prevent the government from proceeding with the tender decision in the meantime.
All involved parties—including CAAP, Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), and the French-Turkish consortium Aeroport de Paris (AdP) and TAV—have reviewed the tender documentation within the legally allowed eight-day period after the ranking list was published on July 17.
CAAP’s legal representatives have mentioned the possibility of arbitration in the U.S., based on the bilateral investment treaty between Montenegro and the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union. Since CAAP is a Luxembourg-U.S. consortium, they have the right to invoke this treaty if they proceed with arbitration.
Earlier in June, CAAP announced they would appeal if their bid was not ranked first, particularly if Incheon advanced to the second round. Initially, the Tender Commission’s technical scoring ranked CAAP’s offer highest, while Incheon failed to qualify for the next round. After internal disagreements and a consultant’s statement questioning the scoring, the Tender Commission extended its decision deadline and held a new vote, which allowed Incheon to advance and ultimately be ranked first.
CAAP will use its right to appeal the Tender Commission’s decision to the Concessions Commission, which has 30 days to respond. If the appeal is rejected, the government, guided by the Ministry of Transport led by Maja Vukićević, can finalize the concession award. CAAP may then file a lawsuit with the Administrative Court and, if unsuccessful, proceed to arbitration in Washington, Paris, or Geneva as allowed by law.
The airport concession tender process began in late 2019 under the government of Duško Marković and was resumed only after the election of Milojko Spajić’s government in late 2023.
