Lufthansa Group confirms interest in acquiring TAP Air stake
Lufthansa Group followed Air France-KLM in officially confirming interest in a stake in TAP Air Portugal.
Lufthansa Group has confirmed that it is interested in acquiring a minority stake in TAP Air Portugal, with the Germany-based airline group submitting its official statement to Parpública, the state holding company of Portugal.
In a short statement on November 20, 2025, Luthansa Group said that today, it “formally expressed its interest in participating as a bidder in the privatization process of TAP Air Portugal,” submitting its formal letter to Parpública.
Lufthansa Group’s goal is to acquire the airline’s minority stake of 44.9% and to establish a long-term partnership between the group and TAP Air Portugal, which would “secure the successful future of TAP as Portugal's national airline.”
Carsten Spohr, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lufthansa Group, added that the goal is to also strengthen Portugal’s connectivity, preserve TAP Air Portugal’s identity, and “ensure the airline's sustainable growth.”
Spohr complimented TAP Air Portugal for being “of great strategic importance to the European aviation industry,” and as a long-standing partner within Star Alliance, Lufthansa Group is the best suitor for the Portuguese carrier, he continued.
The German airline group also highlighted its previous consolidation efforts with the acquisitions of Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), and, most recently, ITA Airways. Throughout these processes, the group has managed to preserve the airlines’ “national identities,” and as the “global number one outside the US,” it can offer the size, experience, and financial stability “to create sustainable value and strengthen TAP Air Portugal's role as an ambassador for the country around the world," it concluded.
Lufthansa Group’s statement came a day after Ben Smith, the CEO of Air France-KLM, confirmed to Bloomberg that the Franco-Dutch group, which also has a stake in SAS following the latter’s restructuring process, is interested in acquiring the 44.9% stake in the Portuguese carrier.
Smith told Bloomberg that Air France-KLM would preserve the airline’s brand, its hub at Lisbon Airport (LIS), and invest in the Portuguese airline’s network.
In July, Air France-KLM announced that it had begun proceedings to increase its stake in SAS from 19.9% to 60.5%. “Subject to the obtaining of all the necessary regulatory clearances and satisfaction of all conditions precedents, the ambition is to close in the second half of 2026,” it said at the time.
International Airlines Group (IAG) has been another potential suitor. During the group’s Q2 2025 earnings call, Luis Gallego, the CEO of IAG, affirmed that the group has “said in the past that we are interested to see if it's something that can be good for the group,” namely the acquisition of a minority stake in TAP Air Portugal.
“And we think that the best place to develop TAP is a group like IAG. We have shown all the different airlines that [sic] they joined the group, they improve their performance.”
Rytis Beresnevicius
However, all three could face significant regulatory hurdles. IAG, for example, already attempted to acquire an airline that has a sizeable network in South America, Air Europa. Following the feedback from the European Commission (EC), IAG confirmed that it dropped its plans to acquire the remaining 80% of Air Europa’s shares from Globalia, the airline’s parent company, in August 2024.
Turkish Airlines has now eyed a stake in Air Europa, confirming on November 6 that the two airlines had signed a final agreement for the former to take a 25% to 27% stake in the latter. “Accordingly, the process of obtaining the necessary permits from the relevant regulatory authorities has commenced and is expected to be finalized within approximately 6 to 12 months,” Turkish Airlines stated at the time.
At the same time, there are other potential suitors: Middle East-based carriers. Corriere Della Sera reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the Portuguese government has spoken with potential buyers in the region, including a Saudi Arabia-based carrier “backed by a sovereign wealth fund,” according to the Italian outlet. Riyadh Air, anyone?
In a statement on September 23, Parpública confirmed that the Portuguese government has approved the process of selling at least 44.9% of TAP Air Portugal’s shares in “a competitive process.”
The government intends to keep 50.1% of the airline’s shares, while the remaining 5% stake would be left to TAP Air Portugal’s employees.
“Any legal person, domestic or foreign, acting individually or in a consortium, that wishes to participate in the Direct Sale must submit, within 60 days of the Resolution’s entry into force, a statement of interest and of compliance with the participation criteria […].”
The deadline to submit proposals is 16:59 local time (UTC +0) on November 22.
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