Air traffic Lufthansa bids for Portuguese airline TAP
The Lufthansa Group wants to take over another European airline.
20.11.2025, 12:23
SDA
The company has officially expressed its interest to the Portuguese state in acquiring a minority stake in the state-owned airline TAP, as announced in Frankfurt. Competitor Air France-KLM had already entered the bidding race on Tuesday. The British Airways parent company IAG is also said to be interested in principle.
The Portuguese government wants to sell 44.9 percent of the airline to an investor from the industry. Interested parties have until November 22 to register their interest. A further 5 percent of the shares are reserved for TAP employees. This means that the state would initially remain the majority shareholder with just over 50 percent of the shares. Interested parties are expected to submit their initial bids by around the beginning of April. A decision could be made in the summer.
Second attempt at privatization
The government had already sold a majority stake in TAP in 2015, but later took over the airline completely again. The airline is doing strong business on routes to Brazil. In total, TAP carried around 16 million passengers last year. After five consecutive years of losses, the company has been in the black since 2022.
In addition to the acquisition of an initial minority stake, the aim of the current process is a long-term partnership, according to Lufthansa. "Our aim is to strengthen Portugal's global connectivity, preserve TAP's Portuguese identity and secure the airline's sustainable growth," promises CEO Carsten Spohr. Lisbon could be developed into an Atlantic hub within the Lufthansa Group.
Lufthansa has already taken over the state-owned airlines of Austria, Switzerland and Belgium and recently acquired a minority stake in the Italian airline Ita.
