At the close of the PSD/CDS-PP parliamentary sessions held in Évora, Luís Montenegro once again advocated for the government’s decision to reprivatize 49.9% of the airline, a process initiated last week.
“My expectation is that not only will the three entities mentioned in the media show interest, but also other major aviation groups from different regions. Whether proposals will be concretized is uncertain. We will wait, and the market will speak,” he stated.
Initially state-owned, TAP was partially privatized in 2015, but the process was reversed in 2016 by António Costa’s government, which regained 50% of the company.
Last year, Luís Montenegro’s executive revisited the topic and expressed intent to proceed with the sale of a minority stake by 2025, a process launched on July 11. Since then, negotiations have been ongoing with major European groups such as Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, and IAG.
Montenegro argued that without this reprivatization option, TAP “will struggle to sustain itself,” while reiterating that the government will not sell “at any price” if a “worthy proposal” does not emerge, a scenario he does not foresee.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the government’s view is “it is not viable to keep pouring money” into TAP, but maintained that stating this does not undermine the company’s potential.
“Simultaneously, it is said that, through integration into a broader operation with a different management capacity and business development model, this airline indeed has significant potential,” he argued.
