T26-075CRO City of Derry to London Public Service Obligation (PSO) Air Service

The City of Derry and Strabane District Council is inviting airlines to operate a Public Service Obligation (PSO) air service between City of Derry Airport and a London airport. The Council requires that the service connect to any one of the six London airports that meet the Department for Transport definition of a London airport, namely Gatwick, Heathrow, City, Luton, Southend or Stansted; candidates are encouraged to present more than one airport option, each with its own cost breakdown, so that value added through hub access can be evaluated. The operation will run under a two‑year contract with the possibility of a 24‑month extension, subject to further approval by the DfT, the Department for Economy and the Council Committee, provided performance remains satisfactory.

The route will be fully funded by the Department for Transport and the Department for Economy for the first 24 months, after which an assessment of value for money will determine continued funding. Operators are required to secure slot availability at the chosen London airport through the regular allocation process, as no government ring‑fencing of slots will be provided. All flight operations must use an airport that the Department for Transport defines as providing access to Transport Zone 1 of London within 60 minutes by rail, and must acquire required slots via the normal slot allocation procedure.

This ITT has been issued by Derry City and Strabane District Council (the Council) for the Provision of a Public Service Obligation air route from City of Derry Airport (CODA) to a London airport. This can be any of the following 6 London Airports, listed in alphabetical order: London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London City, London Luton, London Southend and London Stansted. A London airport has been defined by the Department for Transport (DfT) as any airport that can access transport zone 1 of London within 60 minutes by rail. Tenderers are strongly encouraged to give more than one option of London airport with separate cost estimates for each airport. This will enable consideration of the value-added elements provided through hub access. It should be noted that slots must be available to operate the schedule at the chosen London airport and must be acquired by the airline through the regular slot allocation process. Slots will not be made available by Government through ring-fencing. Your submission must be submitted via etendersNI, via this CFT. No other method of submissions will be accepted. Please refer to the CfT documents for further detail.

Contract location: UKN0A
Communication: www.etendersni.gov.uk
Enquiry deadline: 2026-10-16T12:00:00+01:00
Submission address and any special instructions: www.etendersni.gov.uk
Tenders may be submitted electronically: allowed
Award decision date (estimated): 2027-02-10T23:59:59+00:00

Lot: 1
Lot value (estimated)

7.200.000,00 GBP including VAT
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals: The Contract shall be effective from the date of award of Contract for an initial period of 2 years, with a view to extending for a further 24 months with the successful Operator. The Council reserves the right to extend/renew the Contract up to a further 2 years, after the initial 2 year period. Any extension may be subject to further approval by DfT, Department for Economy (DfE) and Council Committee, availability of funding and satisfactory performance of the Operator. The route will be 100% funded by the DfT and the DfE subject to a review of performance after 24 months. It should be noted that any recommendation made by Council will be subject to DfT and DfE value for money assessment and approval.

Award criteria:

Name	Type	Weighting
Quality	quality	80%
Cost	cost	20%

Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: En