Portuguese airlines TAP and SATA have to return millions of euros in state support, due to ‘failing commitments made with Brussels’.
The money goes back to 2021 when Brussels ceded funds in the context of the ‘post-pandemic crisis’ that affected European airlines.
TAP has received an eye-watering €3.2 billion in state support over recent years (a figure that can never be recouped through the long-awaited privatisation process, details of which are currently far from news pages).
Low-cost airline Ryanair actually tried to block TAP’s post-pandemic cash injection, suggesting it was “taxpayers money being thrown down the toilet”.
Opposition leader of the time, Rui Rio, wholeheartedly agreed.
But Brussels gave it nonetheless, on the proviso that the airline sold its 51% share of Cateringpor (which supplies food to passengers), as well as the almost 50% that it holds in the ground handling company (formerly Groundforce) by the end of last year – which did not happen.
SATA too failed to meet the terms of its €450 million ‘bailout’ (which involved ensuring the privatisation of at least 51% of the business).
SATA will have to repay around €3 million, writes SIC Notícias, while TAP will have to find €25 million (which works out at less than 1% of what it originally received).
Under the terms of the state support given in 2021, TAP also had to rein back on the numbers of planes in its fleet, desist from acquiring shares in other companies and opening new commercial routes. SIC Notícias reports that it has asked TAP if it has been notified to repay the money already (and what the impact might be on the business’s accounts) but “has not received a response”.
TAP is relatively swamped with financial demands (not long ago it lost its appeal against repayment of up to €300 million to staff illegally sacked during the pandemic – and it still has to field the €6 million lawsuit from former CEO Christine Ourmieres Widener alleging wrongful dismissal).
source material: SIC Notícias
