Air France-KLM and Lufthansa vie for Portugal's Tap

The one who did not submit a bid was IAG, the holding company that controls British Airways and Iberia, because Portugal's plan to sell only a minority stake would not fit its strategy.

TAP's main strength lies in the connections between its Lisbon hub and Brazil, Portuguese-speaking African countries and the United States, routes that the government intends to preserve and expand. According to the privatisation decree, the government could later sell its remaining 50.1 per cent share to the buyer of the minority stake currently on sale.

The South American area is watched with interest by European companies for the growth of traffic, especially in this crisis phase where the Middle East and Asia are in trouble due to the Gulf War.

With a fleet of 99 aircraft, TAP carried 16.9 million passengers in 2025, up 3.4 per cent year-on-year. In the first nine months of 2025, TAP's profit fell by 35.2 per cent to EUR 55.2 million, despite a 0.5 per cent increase in turnover to around EUR 3.3 billion.

The next step is for the state-owned holding company Parpublica, in charge of managing the tender, to prepare a report on the merits of each proposal for the government within 30 days. It will then select the most suitable non-binding offers and invite participants to submit binding proposals within 90 days. The privatisation is expected to be concluded in the second half of 2026.