TAP: President defends "a position" of the State after privatization
TAP's chairman, Luís Rodrigues, has defended that the State should maintain a stake in the airline after privatisation, and that it should attract investors from outside the aviation sector, in an interview with the Financial Times, published today.
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"My recommendation would be that the Portuguese government maintain a position, be part of the entire development process", said the leader of TAP, in an interview with the British newspaper.
Luís Rodrigues justified that, in this way, it is guaranteed that "if the actors change, no one will enter with a different agenda", pointing out as an example the need to serve the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores.
The president of TAP, who took office about a year ago, also defended that investors outside the aviation sector should be attracted to avoid possible competition concerns from the European Commission with the consolidation of airlines.
"I think that at some point we may be ready for a 100% sale, but let's take it one step at a time", he stressed.
The three major European aviation groups -- Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and IAG -- expressed interest in TAP's business, after the previous government announced, on September 28, the intention to sell at least 51% of TAP's capital, reserving up to 5% for workers, and to want to approve in the Council of Ministers until the end of last year, or "at the latest" at the beginning of 2024, the privatization specifications.
The executive led by António Costa expected to have the operation concluded in the first half of this year, but did not count on the dissolution of parliament and the calling of early legislative elections, in March, which gave victory to the Democratic Alliance (PSD, CDS-PP and PPM).
Speaking to journalists in London, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Lisbon-London air link, last week, Luís Rodrigues expressed confidence in a good financial result at the end of the year, despite the losses in the first quarter, which he attributed to the increase in the wage bill at the airline.
TAP reported losses of 71.9 million euros in the first quarter of the year, a worsening compared to the negative net result of 57.4 million recorded in the same period last year.
In 2023, the airline recorded a 'record' profit of 177.3 million euros.
IAG was the only one of the three European aviation groups potentially interested in TAP's privatization that improved its results in the first quarter, with a loss of four million euros, while Air France-KLM and Lufthansa increased their losses to 480 and 734 million euros negative, respectively.
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