Portuguese government formally announces sale of 49.9% stake in TAP Air Portugal

Portugal’s government has officially relaunched the much-delayed and long-awaited privatisation of the national airline TAP Air Portugal (TAP). With several major European airline groups vying for a potential stake in the carrier, the process is likely to become a major story in the next 12 months as these groups contend for a share in Portugal’s flag carrier.

Announced on July 10, 2025, the government said that it would aim to sell a 49.9% stake in the airline “within the next year,” with the possibility of selling off even more capital if market conditions and demand favor such a move. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said he was “convinced that there will be many interested parties” in the planned partial sale that includes a 5% stake to be offered to employees.

So far, three airline groups have expressed an interest in the carrier, which, should one of them supply a winning bid, is likely to consolidate the European airline market further. Germany’s Lufthansa Group remains a strong contender, having been active in hoovering up stakes in several other European carriers in recent years. Brussels Airlines,  Austrian, SWISS International, and most recently ITA Airways all now fall under the Lufthansa Group banner, with the Group reportedly having held preliminary talks with the Portuguese government about a possible stake in TAP Air Portugal earlier in 2025.

Markus Mainka / ShutterstockThe other leading contenders include the International Airlines Group (IAG), which controls British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus, while the Air France-KLM Group has also publicly stated an interest should a stake in TAP come up for sale. According to Reuters, Air France-KLM reiterated its interest recently, saying in a statement it “will participate in this process once all details are released”.

However, IAG has been more reserved with stating its intentions in the public domain, stating, “As we have previously stated, IAG looks forward to reviewing the terms of the potential sale of TAP and will carefully consider all details and conditions of the process as soon as they are made available”.

TAP is currently enjoying one of the strongest trading periods in its history, with passenger loads and profitability both up, while the carrier is actively expanding its route network, particularly to long-haul destinations such as those in North and South America. In 2024, the airline recorded a net income of €53.7 million ($58.4m), returning a positive result for the third consecutive year. Compared to 2019, the last year before the pandemic, the results register an increase of €149.4 million ($164.3m).

kamilpetran / ShutterstockAdditionally, in 2024, TAP’s operating revenues totaled a new all-time high of €4,242.4 million ($4,666.6m), an increase of 0.7% compared to 2023 and 28.6% above 2019 levels. Flown passengers’ revenue also remained positive in 2024, driven by the increase in overall network capacity of 1.6% and a corresponding improvement in the airline’s load factor of 1.5%.During the year, TAP carried a total of 16.1 million passengers, an increase of 1.6% compared to 2023, reaching 94% of the values achieved in 2019. The total number of flights operated decreased by 1.5% compared to 2023, reaching 86% of pre-crisis levels. The company expects to improve on this during 2025.

TAP to “foster synergies”

Portugal’s Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said the government sought to foster synergies between TAP and a strategic partner to be chosen, which will be given a key management role. “We believe we can complete the privatisation within a year,” Pinto Luz told reporters, adding that the privatisation model allowed offers from airlines from outside the European Union.

“We took this decision [to privatise] because we’ve already spent a lot of money … We don’t want to continue pouring money into a bottomless pit,” Montenegro said in a brief televised statement.

joaosgodinho / ShutterstockNext steps in the process

According to the Portuguese government, the next steps in the formal process to privatise TAP will be for interested parties to formally express an intention to proceed with their interest in the carrier and to qualify for the presale section of the process within 60 days of the sale receiving the presidential green light from the Portuguese president, Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa who has been in the top role in the country since 2016.

The privatization of TAP has been on the table since the pandemic, when, like many European airlines, it had to accept a bailout from the Portuguese government. However, having spent the four years since COVID-19 rebuilding itself, the Portuguese government now feels that the time is right for the privatization to go ahead.

The only hiccup to the process could be that, following the collapse of the centre-right minority government in March 2025, the new coalition government, which returned to office in May 2025, could still block the ultimate sale of any stake in TAP.

According to ch-aviation, the airline currently operates an all-Airbus fleet of 83 aircraft in its mainline fleet while its regional subsidiary, TAP Express, operates a further 19 Embraer regional jets. The mainline carrier operates 105 routes to 88 destinations across 31 countries from its main base at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS). The airline’s main strengths lie in its extensive network to several points in Brazil, Portuguese-speaking African countries, and the United States from its Lisbon hub.

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