Portugal wants to privatize the TAP airline again in the near future. as such nothing new. Still learning the best way to make this plan viablecandidates for future partners are already beginning to appear, among them Lufthansa or Air France-KLM are among the favorites of the Portuguese government.
Another major European group, IAG (owner of British Airways and Iberia), will not enter the competition due to competition rules. This is because the market concentration for flights to South America as well as to the Iberian Peninsula will be very high, especially after IAG joins Air Europa. Antitrust authorities are unlikely to agree to such an agreement without a significant reduction in routes.
However, the talk of Lufthansa and Air France-KLM goes back before Covid-19 hit the aviation world. At the time, investor David Nieleman was reportedly interested in selling his stake in TAP to Lufthansa. But then the pandemic came and the business collapsed. The Portuguese state then bought his shares from a Brazilian-American investor. Today, the local government owns 92% of the shares of the national airline.
In Lisbon, apparently, sales are going to start this year. according to expressshould be completed in early 2023.
