Portugal and Lufthansa Sign the TAP Sale Contract in Lisbon Today, Handing Brussels the Next Move Before a 2028 Closing
Montenegro and Lufthansa's Carsten Spohr sign the deal for up to 49.9 percent of TAP today. The President has promulgated a special governance decree for the airline, and the European Commission's competition review comes next, with Lufthansa to bear any remedies.
The Portuguese government and the Lufthansa group sign the contract for the partial sale of TAP Air Portugal in Lisbon today, Tuesday 3 November. It turns the Council of Ministers' choice of 14 October into a binding deal, but it does not yet change anything for passengers or staff: the sale still needs approval from the European Commission's competition authorities, and it is expected to close in 2028, according to Lusa.
According to a Ministry of Finance note reported by Lusa and carried by Notícias ao Minuto, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and Lufthansa's chief executive, Carsten Spohr, are both due to speak at the signing. The Finance Minister, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, and the Infrastructure and Housing Minister, Miguel Pinto Luz, will also attend. The time and exact venue had not been published when this article was written, and neither had the text of the contract.
What is being signed
The deal is the one the government picked last month, which we reported in full on 14 October: up to 49.9 percent of TAP for a potential 1,201 million euros. Lusa breaks that down as a reference price of 1,025 million euros for 44.9 percent, 58 million euros in adjustments linked to the ticketing fee, the ground handler SPdH (formerly Groundforce) and the in-flight catering company Cateringpor, and 118 million euros for the 5 percent reserved for TAP's workers. The State keeps 50.1 percent.
One piece of the legal groundwork is already in place. On Monday, 2 November, the President of the Republic promulgated a government decree-law (decreto-lei, a law made by the government) setting up a special regime for TAP's corporate governance and management. The President's note does not describe its contents, and the decree had not yet appeared in the Diário da República, the official gazette.
Brussels comes next
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Pinto Luz said that after the signing the government will enter a process with the Commission's Directorate-General for Competition "for the remedies that are required", and that it expects the European review and the closing to be "faster than in the past", ECO reports. Remedies are conditions Brussels can attach to a merger to protect competition. The Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Espírito Santo, told the same hearing that "the buyer will bear the regulatory remedies directly", but declined to guess what Brussels will ask for, RTP reports.
Pinto Luz also renewed his call on the PS, Chega and other parties to talk about selling the remaining 50.1 percent. Lufthansa has offered 863 million euros plus a 5 percent stake in the Lufthansa group, valued at 488 million euros, for that second phase, according to ECO. No such sale is on the table without parliamentary support.
What it means for you
- Flights and tickets: nothing changes today. The sale does not take effect until it closes, so TAP stays under its current ownership and management in the meantime.
- Routes and the Lisbon hub: Lufthansa's winning offer promised to grow TAP's fleet to 130 aircraft, ECO notes. Whether the signed contract fixes that and the other commitments on routes and the hub in the same terms will only be clear once it is published.
- Possible changes later: any remedies Brussels imposes are attached before closing, and Lufthansa, not the State, is to bear them, according to the government.
