TAP has maintained NATO's AWACS fleet since 1987. Its maintenance division now says national defence work and European partnerships are where it grows next, and that the privatisation could help it get there.
TAP resumes flights to Venezuela on Monday 13 July, landing at Valencia's Arturo Michelena airport after two June earthquakes shut Caracas's main gateway. Service restarts with one weekly flight — carrying 7.5 tonnes of Portuguese pharmaceuticals — for one of the world's largest Portuguese emigrant
EasyJet has agreed a roughly GBP5.2 billion (EUR6.06 billion) takeover by US investment firm Castlelake, and Portuguese analysts say the deal signals healthy investor appetite for European airlines just as the government courts buyers for a 49.9% stake in TAP.
TAP has switched on new routes this week — Porto to Terceira and Praia, and Lisbon to Athens and Curitiba — as it leans on Porto's airport and formally exits its restructuring plan ahead of a partial privatisation.
Portugal's long-running TAP privatisation reaches its decisive stage in July, when Air France-KLM and Lufthansa must table binding offers for a 49.9% stake. A government decision is expected by early September, even as the new Lisbon airport at Alcochete stays on a 2028 blueprint.
TAP Air Portugal opened a €300 million five-year senior unsecured bond roadshow on Wednesday morning with Citi and Crédit Agricole CIB as joint global coordinators — front-running the September 2026 privatisation winner pick on a clean post-Brussels-close-out credit story.
EU Parliament and Council seal provisional EU261 air passenger rights revision after 12 years. 3-hour compensation trigger held at €250/€400/€600, cabin baggage rule, 96-hour electronic claim notice. Applies mid-2027.
