The National Union of Civil Aviation Pilots (SPAC) requested to be heard by the Government before the conclusion of the TAP privatization process, considering this a structural investment that will determine for decades the future of the fleet, the Lisbon hub, employment, and the company's decision-making capacity in Portugal.
SPAC argues that the final proposals from the two competing candidates, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, must include concrete, measurable, and lasting commitments regarding the company's future, warning that the decision cannot be reduced to the offered price or generic statements of intent. The union's president, Hélder Santinhos, recalled that the State now has its greatest negotiating power and that after the investor is chosen, Portugal's ability to demand guarantees will necessarily be reduced.
The union posed five fundamental questions it wants clarified: what fleet will TAP have and who will ensure the growth of operations from Lisbon, what production will remain under TAP's AOC, what guarantees will be assumed regarding employment and careers, what future is planned for Portugália and for Maintenance and Engineering, and what effective decision-making capacity will remain in Portugal.
Although it declares itself in favor of privatization, recognizing that the company needs shareholder stability, investment capacity, and integration into a robust European group, SPAC emphasized that it does not intend to
