Lufthansa Airlines is considering a potential take-over of TAP Air Portugal. Speaking at the IATA summit in Istanbul, Carsten Spohr, Chief Executive, Lufthansa said that it was too early in the privatization process of TAP to discuss Lufthansa's potential interest in acquiring the airline.
Post pandemic, the Portugal's government announced a partial or total sale of TAP. The airline is the flag carrier of Portugal with Portuguese government holding 100% stake.
The airline is restructuring under a Brussels-approved $3.5 billion plan. The exact outcome of a potential sale has not been decided on yet, although Secretary of State for Finance Joao Nuno Mendes said that Portugal wants to keep a strategic stake in the airline.
When the sale was announced, major global airlines Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and British Airways were all reported to be interested
Lufthansa was one of the first airlines to express interest in acquiring TAP due to its established hub in Lisbon. At the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held in Istanbul, Spohr spoke about the privatization of the airline. He said: "There's still discussion in Portugal how that privatization will take place, and it's not supposed to be 100 percent privatization."
The government hopes to privatize the airline by early July.
Lufthansa recently agreed to purchase 41% of ITA Airways from the Italian government through a capital increase of $348 million. Besides the airline is targeting only two years to pay off the ITA Airways deal.
In addition to the ITA Airways acquisition, Lufthansa is working towards a partnership with Air India, in line with its recently announced India expansion policy to create a neutral joint venture on an India-Frankfurt route.