Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has the decision in his hands to choose between the Air France-KLM consortium and the Lufthansa group for the purchase of 44.9 percent of TAP's capital, after the Ministry of Finance received the evaluation report from Parpública on the binding proposals from the two European groups. The formal delivery of the technical opinion closes the instructional phase and transfers to the Executive the responsibility to decide between the Paris axis and the German giant based in Frankfurt.
The analysis conducted by Parpública scrutinized the economic-financial solvency of the business plans, traffic projections, the value offered by each proponent and the degree of commitment to the national interest objectives defined in the tender specifications. Among the essential elements compared, the overall assessment of the company, the financing structure for fleet expansion, the corporate governance model and the investment schedule for environmental sustainability and technological modernization stand out.
The Air France-KLM group proposes an Atlantic alliance focused on strengthening Portugal's connections with the Lusophone space and South America, promising to preserve the brand, jobs in the maintenance workshops and the commercial autonomy of the management team in Lisbon. Lufthansa, on its part, presents itself with acquisition management experience such as Swiss and Austrian Airlines, offering financial solidity, permanence in Star Alliance and the capacity to channel passengers from central and northern Europe to the Atlantic connections from Lisbon.
The Government has already made it known that it will not forgo safeguarding strategic interests, imposing clauses that guarantee the expansion of Lisbon airport, the maintenance of air connections to the Azores and Madeira, the retention of the industrial maintenance center in Portugal and the formal commitment to non-relocation of the headquarters. After the resolution in the Council of Ministers, the dossier will have to be submitted for approval by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition in Brussels.
