The Air France-KLM airline group said on Friday that it remained “very interested” in the possibility of buying TAP as part of the project to reprivatise the Portuguese company.
“The Air France-KLM group is monitoring the situation in Portugal. As we have already said, we are very interested in the TAP privatisation project and are awaiting the next steps,” a company source told EFE, following reports that it had given up on the purchase due to the political situation in Portugal.
The state holds the entire capital of the Portuguese flag carrier after increasing its stake when TAP got into difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reprivatisation process began last September, when the previous Socialist government approved the conditions of the sale. However, it was put on hold after Prime Minister António Costa’s resignation and the president called snap elections for 10 March, which gave victory to the Democratic Alliance (PSD/CDS-PP and PPM).
In the Government Programme, delivered to parliament on Wednesday, Luís Montenegro’s government pledged to “launch the process of privatising TAP’s share capital” without giving any further details.
In addition to Air France-KLM, the Spanish-British group IAG – parent company of Iberia, British Airways and Vueling – and Germany’s Lufthansa have also expressed interest.
TAP announced at the end of March that it made a ‘record’ profit of €177.3 million in 2023, a year in which it also achieved unprecedented revenues in the company’s history, in excess of €4.2 billion.
