“Air France-KLM expresses its satisfaction with the Portuguese Government’s announcement that the group is qualified to enter the next phase of the TAP privatization process”, said this Friday, 19th, the Franco-Dutch group in a note sent to newsrooms.
The reaction comes after the Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, announced, during this morningthat the Executive gave the green light to the proposals of the three candidates to purchase 44.9% of the capital of the Portuguese air carrier. In addition to Air-France-KLM, Lufthansa and IAG were also qualified.
At a press conference held in Entroncamento, Pinto Luz said that the three groups that expressed interest in acquiring the flag company meet the requirements to move on to the second phase of the process that will start on January 2nd.
“The group reiterates its strong interest in TAP and looks forward to the next steps, namely the submission of a non-binding offer by the end of the first quarter of 2026. The airlines of the Air France-KLM group have served Portugal since 1940 and operate more than 600 weekly flights to five destinations in the country”, he adds.
Air France-KLM also guarantees that through the acquisition of a stake in TAP “it intends to further increase its contribution to the Portuguese economy and create value for TAP and the country”.
Parpública will now send invitations to the three consortia to present non-binding proposals. The process will last 90 days, plus a period of another 30 days for evaluation by the company responsible for managing the State’s holdings, which will subsequently prepare a new report.
Air France-KLM submitted its expression of interest to November 19. Days before, remember, the CEO, Benjamin Smith said, during the press conference to present the third quarter results, that he wanted to meet “with interested parties, including the Government” within the scope of the proposal.
Recently, Delta Airlines was also excited about the entry of Air France-KLM in the race to buy TAP. The North American airline, which has been operating in Portugal for eight years, works on codeshare with the Franco-Dutch company and considered the possible purchase of TAP by the partner as positive to DN.