Lufthansa to become new TAP shareholder, says Portuguese government

Published on 14/10/2026 - 14:06 GMT+2•Updated 14:24

The Portuguese government announced, after Wednesday's Council of Ministers meeting, that the German company Lufthansa will become the new shareholder in TAP, as part of the process of reprivatising the Portuguese airline.

"The government has successfully completed the first phase of the privatisation of our flag carrier. It has been a process conducted with competitive rigour, firm negotiating discipline and complete transparency before the Portuguese public," said the Portuguese prime minister, Luís Montenegro.

The prime minister then announced that, after assessing the bids, the government had opted for the Lufthansa group, "whose financial offer is 16% higher than the competing proposal and carries a lower degree of uncertainty".

The deal represents "a cash inflow of 1.201 billion euros in this first phase" and the state will retain a majority stake of 50.1% in the company. "Lufthansa will take on responsibility for executive and operational management," he explained.

"This is an offer that values the airline as a whole at 2.552 billion euros, a figure far above the independent valuations that were being projected a few years ago, or even a few months ago," he added.

Montenegro also underlined an "ambitious strategy" for the aviation sector, particularly in terms of airport infrastructure.

"In this way we are securing the growth of TAP, the expansion of its fleet, an increase in passenger numbers, more destinations and connections, and also higher levels of investment, not only in TAP but across the entire aeronautical sector in Portugal," he said.

The offer leverages other investment, such as 500 million euros for the creation of a new pilots' school in Tancos, an innovation centre in Aveiro and a corporate services centre, in addition to the previously announced investment by Lufthansa Technik in Santa Maria da Feira.

Luís Montenegro also referred to the increase in jobs. "We are anticipating 3,000 associated jobs from TAP's projected growth and a total of 5,500 direct and indirect jobs across all these investment initiatives in our country."

The proposal also provides for investment in Francisco Sá Carneiro airport, the strategic base for the entire operation, as well as in Faro airport and the airports of the autonomous regions.

At the end of September, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa submitted their final bids to acquire 44.9% of the capital of the Portuguese airline, according to Parpública, the company that manages the state's shareholdings, at the time.

This process also sets aside 5% of the company's share capital for purchase by employees. However, under the decree-law on TAP's privatisation, published in August and quoted here by Lusa, (source in Portuguese) there is scope for the chosen private investor – in this case Lufthansa – to acquire any shares that are not bought by staff. The remaining stake will continue to be held by the state.

According to the national business press, (source in Portuguese) TAP recorded a loss of 99.2 million euros in the first half of 2026, a deterioration of 40% compared with the previous year.

The finance minister, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, said last week that the privatisation process would only be completed in 18 to 24 months' time, that is, in 2028, after authorisation from the Directorate-General for Competition (DGComp) of the European Commission.

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