António Costa guaranteed this Monday during the discussion of the state budget for 2024 that TAP will only be sold with a hub in Lisbon. The Prime Minister outlined the criteria that will be taken into account when privatizing the airline.
“The last criterion is price. The first is the continued importance of TAP for the Portuguese economy and the preservation of the Lisbon Hub. Privatization will take place in strict accordance with the strategic purpose of TAP, because that is why we acquired the necessary part of the capital in 2015 and that we increased the capital in 2020,” he said.
António Costa, however, emphasized that “to achieve this goal it is not necessary to have 100% of the capital or even 51% of the capital, it depends on who the partner is and on what kind of social contract there is between the partners.”