Lufthansa wins race for 44.9% of Portugal's TAP with 1.2 billion euro bid
Portugal's government picked Lufthansa as its partner for the partial privatization of the state airline, beating Air France-KLM. Completion is not expected before 2028.
Symbolic image · Photo: BriYYZ / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Lufthansa is set to acquire 44.9% of Portuguese state airline TAP after the government chose the German group as its preferred partner, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced. He said Lufthansa had bid 1.2 billion euros. Rival Air France-KLM lost out. The Portuguese state will keep a majority, with up to 5% of shares reserved for employees.
Lufthansa aims to expand TAP's Brazil business, strengthen Lisbon as a hub and grow in Porto. The German group recently took a 41% stake in Italy's ITA Airways. TAP operates more than 100 aircraft, employs about 9,400 people and posted a net loss of 99.2 million euros in the first half of 2026.
The selection is not yet a sale: contract negotiations and approvals still lie ahead. Lisbon estimates a European Commission competition review could take 18 to 24 months, with completion expected in 2028.