TAP Air Portugal planes on the runway at Lisbon Photo: Ist58159-enwiki / Wikimedia
TAP, Portugal’s “flag” air carrier has been sold to a joint venture headed by David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue and now owner of Brazil’s Azul airline. Neeleman’s plans for TAP include routes into more U.S. cities. Could that include a future codeshare tie-up with JetBlue? Just speculating…
Neeleman’s partner in the deal is Humberto Pedrosa, owner of a Portuguese bus network. They will own 61% of TAP’s stock. Some regulatory issues must be resolved, but are not expected to be a big problem, since the Portuguese government, which is selling, has already negotiated a deal with the airline unions, barring mass layoffs for 30 months, and set aside 5% of the stock for employee ownership.
TAP is a Star Alliance member, as is Azul. Part of the deal requires the new owners to upgrade TAP’s aging fleet. MORE from USA Today
