The proposed privatization of Portuguese flag carrier TAP, stalled for some months since the election of a new government, appears back on track, according to Portugal’s infrastructure minister.
Hugo Espirito Santo told newspapers that the government will finalize details of its plan to offer the airline by the end of the year, and expects to complete a sale process by the end of next June. All three of Europe’s biggest airline groups, Lufthansa, IAG and Air France/KLM have expressed interest.
“I would very much like to complete the process in the first half of 2025 – and that means reaching the end and being able to decide. We have a decision and then we can close the process. It is a process that takes time and we have to do it in a very transparent and solid way, that is our point of view,” he said.”
TAP was privatized in 2015, but was renationalized on the brink of bankruptcy in the first year of the pandemic.
