Lufthansa to be new TAP shareholder, Portuguese government says

The Portuguese government announced, after Wednesday's Council of Ministers meeting, that Germany's Lufthansa will be 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 airline. It has been a process carried out under strict competitive conditions, tough negotiations and with complete transparency towards the Portuguese public," said Portugal's prime minister Luís Montenegro.

The prime minister went on to say that, after evaluating the bids, the government had decided in favour of the Lufthansa group, "whose financial offer is 16% higher than the rival bid and carries a lower degree of uncertainty".

The transaction will bring in "1,201 million euros in this first phase" and the state will retain a majority stake of 50.1% in the company. "Lufthansa will be responsible for executive and operational management," he explained.

"This proposal values the company at a total of 2,552 million euros. That figure is far above the independent valuations that were being floated a few years ago, or even a few months ago," he added.

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

He said that in this way "we are ensuring the growth of TAP, the growth of the fleet, the growth in passenger numbers, the expansion of destinations and routes, and also greater investment, not only in TAP but across the entire aeronautical sector in Portugal".

The proposal will underpin other investments, including 500 million euros for a new pilot school in Tancos, an innovation centre in Aveiro and a corporate services hub, on top of the already announced Lufthansa Technik investment in Santa Maria da Feira.

Luís Montenegro also pointed to job creation. "We are looking at 3,000 associated jobs, linked to TAP's projected growth, and a total of 5,500 direct and indirect jobs arising from all these investment initiatives in our country."

Miguel Pinto Luz, the minister for Infrastructure and Housing, set out the offer in more detail, highlighting plans to increase the fleet to 117 aircraft by 2035 and 130 after 2035. The proposal also foresees up to eight Airbus A350-900s being transferred to TAP after 2030.

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

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

The process also reserves 5% of the company's share capital for purchase by employees**.** However, under the decree-law on TAP's privatisation, published in August and cited here by Lusa (source in Portuguese), the selected private investor, in this case Lufthansa, may also take up any shares that are not bought by staff. The remaining stake will continue to be held by the state.

According to the Portuguese financial press, (source in Portuguese) TAP posted 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 within 18 to 24 months, that is in 2028, after approval from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition (DGComp).