Reprivatization of 49.9% of TAP began – but process can be stopped

Government approved the Decree-Law that begins the process and in which it intends to alienate, in the first phase, 49.9% of the airline’s capital.

The government approved today the decree-law that Starts the TAP reprivatization process and in which it intends to alienate, in a first phase, 49,9% From the capital of the airline, the prime minister announced.

Luís Montenegro He made a statement to journalists at the official residence in São Bento, in the middle of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, without the right to questions.

“We approved a decree-law in which we met a constant point in our electoral and government program which is the reprivatization of 49.9% of the TAP capital,” said Montenegro, saying it is the “kick-off” of this first phase of reprivatization.

In this process, the executive intends to alienate up to 49.9% of the airline’s capital through the direct sales model, reserving until 5% to the workers, as provided for in the privatization law.

The Prime Minister was convinced that “There will be many interested parties” In the purchase of part of the Portuguese airline’s share capital, whose proposals will be evaluated by the government “from the financial, technical and strategic point of view”.

However, the prime minister assured that the privatization of TAP It can be stopped if the government understands that the proposals do not safeguard the strategic interest of the country.

“If none of the proposals are to safeguard the interest that we understand to be strategically relevant, the diploma we now approve of the possibility of, at any time, we can suspend, or even frustrate this procedure without any compensation” to those interested, Montenegro said.

“We believe that safeguarding the country’s strategic interest presupposes that the management of the Portuguese airline may be framed With the opening of their social capital to companies, groups that can contribute the possibility that, in the international context, this operation is competitive and sustainable, ”said Luís Montenegro.

This is the first step To start with the sale of TAP, which will have private shareholders again after 2020 the government advanced for nationalization in the impact of air transport pandemic.

The decree-law will also have to go through the President of the Republic that, in October 2023, the sentence The document prepared by the government of António Costa to start with the privatization of TAP. At the time, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa decided to return the diploma, approved by the Council of Ministers on September 28 of this year, considering that “it raised multiple doubts and ellipsis in the light of the desired maximum transparency of the process”.

The reprivatization of the air carrier has been on the table since 2023, But it was interrupted with the fall of the last two PS and PSD governments.

Since then, the performance financairline eiro softened. In 2024, he returned to profit, but he retreated almost 70% compared to 2023, located at 53.7 million euros.

The company’s latest accounts, relating to the first quarter of 2025, the weakest norm for the sector, put the company again in the red when registering a prejudice of 108.2 million, more 18.1 million than in the same period last year. The fact that Easter this year was in April and not in March also contributed to negative performance.

Originally state -owned, TAP was partially privatized in 2015, but the process was reversed in 2016 by the government of António Costa, which resumed 50% of the company – a decision that generated criticism due to the state’s financial risk.

Last year, the executive of Luís Montenegro resumed the theme and expressed intention to advance with the alienation of a minority participation in 2025. Since then, negotiations with large European groups such as Air France-Klm, Lufthansa and IAG.

The government justifies the process with the need to Preserve the ‘hub’ of Lisbon – Flight Distribution Platform – and the company’s strategic routes, while seeking to recover part of the state’s 3.2 billion -billion during the pandemic under the restructuring plan.