SPAC Writes to Miguel Pinto Luz Flagging Lufthansa's 'Labour Suitability' Before Portugal Picks a Buyer for TAP — Pilots Cite Cockpit Strike Fallout and VC Agreement Termination

Portugal's Civil Aviation Pilots' Union (SPAC) has written formally to Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz warning that Lufthansa's behaviour toward its own pilots in Germany makes the carrier a questionable buyer for TAP Air Portugal. The letter, dated mid-April, adds a new political variable to a privatization file already moving under deadline pressure.

SPAC's argument is narrow and specific. The union is not opposing TAP's re-privatization. It is asking that the selection process apply a labour-suitability test alongside the standard technical and financial criteria — and that, on the evidence of the last two weeks, Lufthansa fails that test.

What SPAC wrote to the minister

In a letter sent to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, SPAC stated that it "is in favour of TAP's re-privatization" but only if potential buyers demonstrate "solid suitability" on technical, financial, and labour fronts. The union wrote that when the main pilots' union of a bidder "denounces measures against the exercise of union activity, in the context of strikes, negotiation breaches and recent disputes, the Portuguese State cannot ignore the labour management culture at stake, under penalty of jeopardising the strategic future of the company."

In ordinary union language, that is a direct challenge to the government: if you choose Lufthansa, you own the labour model that comes with it.

The underlying incident

SPAC's warning is not abstract. On 13 and 14 April, pilots belonging to Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) — the German pilots' union — struck against Lufthansa over pay and access to supplementary pensions. During the strike, Lufthansa unilaterally and without notice terminated a standing 2018 agreement with VC that allowed pilots to be partially seconded from flying duties to union safety work — a long-standing arrangement common across European carriers.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) reacted publicly, framing the termination as a restriction on legitimate union activity. SPAC is picking up that thread and asking the Portuguese government to read it as evidence about Lufthansa's labour management culture.

Where this fits in the privatization

The TAP privatization process accelerated in April. IAG — the British Airways / Iberia group that had been considered one of three plausible buyers — publicly walked away from the process on 18 April, leaving two bidders standing: Lufthansa and Air France-KLM. Air France-KLM submitted its non-binding offer to Parpública, the state holding agent, on 2 April. Lufthansa entered the process shortly after and has publicly floated the idea of establishing a pilot school in Portugal — potentially open to NATO member states — as part of its pitch.

The government is selling up to 49.9% of TAP: 44.9% to private investors and 5% reserved for employees. TAP operates roughly 100 aircraft and employs around 7,700 staff, of whom about 1,200 are pilots. The two remaining bidders have very different operating models and, as SPAC now wants the government to acknowledge, very different track records in labour relations.

The political chemistry

Air France-KLM has pitched Lisbon as its exclusive hub for Southern Europe. Lufthansa has signalled it would integrate TAP into an existing hub network, treating Lisbon as a feeder rather than a primary base. From the Portuguese state's perspective, the first model preserves more of TAP's long-haul identity — and more of its domestic employment base.

That commercial argument was already on the table. What SPAC adds is a labour-relations layer: the union is asking the government to treat Lufthansa's handling of the VC agreement as a leading indicator of how it would handle SPAC and the cabin-crew unions after a TAP purchase. In labour law, that is a familiar argument; in privatization politics, it is unusually direct.

What this means for travellers and TAP staff

Nothing changes immediately. Non-binding offers are exactly that — they give the government a basis to enter exclusive negotiations but do not commit either party. The binding phase is expected over the coming months; a decree authorising the sale has already been signed by the President. TAP continues to operate its schedule as published.

But the decision matters beyond the price. Whoever acquires 44.9% of TAP will inherit a carrier with a fragile labour equilibrium — a 2022 pay package that froze some adjustments in exchange for survival, a pilot cohort still recovering from pandemic-era cuts, and a cabin-crew union (SNPVAC) that has struck repeatedly over the last decade. SPAC's letter to Miguel Pinto Luz is an attempt to make sure that labour history is priced into the government's decision, not just the offered equity premium.

The ministry has not commented publicly on the SPAC letter. The European Commission, for its part, will have its own merger-control view on whichever deal lands first. For now, Lufthansa has been told, on the record, by the Portuguese pilots who would become its employees that they don't trust its labour management. The government will decide whether that matters. (Background: see our piece on the TAP's 49.9% SPdH disposal to Menzies.)

Sources: ECO (16 April 2026); Observador (16 April 2026); Jornal Económico and Notícias ao Minuto coverage of SPAC's letter to the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing; AeroTime and Reuters reporting on Air France-KLM's 2 April non-binding offer and IAG's 18 April withdrawal; IFALPA and Vereinigung Cockpit statements on the Lufthansa agreement termination.