Airline group Air France-KLM has followed Lufthansa to present its non-binding bid for a minority participation in TAP Air Portugal – the national flag carrier undergrowing its second privatisation in little more than a decade.
In a statement released today (the final day for presenting bids), the group’s executive president Benjamin Smith, said: “We value what TAP has built over the last 81 years: a strong Lisbon hub, a strong brand, and a unique value proposition that provides connectivity and pride to millions of Portuguese people. We firmly believe that the next chapter of the airline’s history should be written as part of the Air France-KLM Group, building on this legacy and taking TAP to the next level. TAP is a natural fit within Air France-KLM’s multi-hub strategy, and our ambition is to strengthen the operations at Lisbon while developing connectivity in other cities across the country including Porto. We look forward to the next steps of the privatisation process.”
It is now a question of seeing whether or not the IAG group (including British Airways and Iberia) comes onboard with its non-binding offer by the end of the day.
Lufthansa yesterday dismissed the current very uncertain times as a reason for throttling back on expansion plans, suggesting airlines’ concerns over jet fuel/ ticket prices/ destination hiccups are all considered ‘temporary’.
The Air France-KLM statement today outlines the “ideal geographic position” of TAP’s Lisbon hub to become the group’s “unique southern European hub, offering extensive connectivity notably to the Americas – including Brazil, a key market for both TAP and Air France-KLM, as well as Africa.
It refers to “Portugal as a whole” benefitting from TAP’s integration into “a worldwide commercial organisation (…) with a global reach.
“Air France-KLM has a strong track record in nurturing and growing historic brands and aims to allow (TAP) to stay true to its Portuguese heritage while leveraging that distinctive identity on the global stage. This would reinforce TAP’s sustainable growth and regional development, while also safeguarding the connectivity for the Portuguese diaspora, in line with the requirements set forth by the Portuguese government.”
Portugal’s AD government announced an initial privatisation of 49.9% of TAP’s share capital, with 5% reserved for employees in July last year. Prime minister Luís Montenegro confirmed the plan is, in the future, to release further share capital. He also assured that if none of the offers on the table are considered “relevant” there is the possibility of suspending the reprivatisation altogether.
Source material: Lusa/ Air France-KLM
