As the Portuguese government intends to fast-track the sale of Tap Portugal, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have emerged as lead contenders for the take-over. As per the sources, the government wants to complete the sale within the first half of 2023.
Although the government has not yet clarified how much of the stake is up for sale, sources confirmed that the government is considering selling at least half of the airline while some officials are pursuing a full sale.
TAP suffered big losses during the pandemic as passenger flights ground to a halt. It received a huge €2.65 billion in financial aid from the European Commission (EC) last year to stay afloat and support its restructuring.
Interestingly Lufthansa and TAP are a part of Star Alliance Group that could act in its favour.
The sale of control of TAP to private groups comes just over two years after the Portuguese government renationalised the airline.
Currently, TAP faces significant losses, although it has expanded passenger transport in recent months.