The similarity between the industrial plans and the prices offered by Air France-KLM and Lufthansa favours an increase in the final consideration to be paid for TAP. Financially, the German group has the edge, but the Franco-Dutch group also has strong arguments. Following the submission of non-binding proposals by Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, the Government invited...
Equivalence of proposals favours price increase for TAP. Who has the advantage?
Friday, 24 April 2026RSS
Context & Explainers
TAP Air Portugal is Portugal’s flag-carrier airline, founded on 14 March 1945 as Transportes Aéreos Portugueses. It began operations in 1946 with Lisbon–Madrid and quickly opened the long “Linha Aérea Imperial” to Angola and Mozambique, symbolically linking mainland Portugal to its overseas territories. TAP entered the jet age in the 1960s, became Europe’s first all‑jet airline in 1967, and rebranded as TAP Air Portugal in 1979. Nationalised after the 1974 Carnation Revolution, it went through cycles of partial privatisation and renationalisation, remaining a strategic state‑controlled company due to its role in connectivity, tourism, exports, and the Portuguese diaspora, especially to Brazil, Africa, and North America. Today TAP operates an all‑Airbus fleet from its Lisbon hub, marketing itself as a bridge between Europe, Africa, and the Americas and as a key economic and symbolic asset for Portugal.
