TAP First-Quarter Loss Halves to €39.9 Million as Operating Revenue Lifts 11% to €914 Million on the Americas Long-Haul Pull

TAP Air Portugal trimmed its first-quarter prejuízo to €39.9 million for the three months to 31 March 2026, a 63.1% improvement on the €108.2 million loss booked in the same period of 2025, the state-owned carrier reported on Monday ahead of the binding-offer phase of the privatisation file. Operating revenue lifted 11% to €914.4 million, recurrent EBITDA climbed from €2.9 million to €95.5 million, and the load factor held at 83.5% as long-haul demand to the Americas absorbed capacity faster than the airline added it.

The headline figures arrive at a critical moment for the company. Three strategic-partner bids — Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, and IAG — are working through the binding-offer phase that Pinto Luz's ministry expects to land in the second half of 2026. Each bidder has read the same balance sheet, and a return to recurrent-EBITDA territory after a Q1 2025 in which the metric sat just above zero matters more to deal value than headline net-loss noise.

Traffic, Capacity and the Americas Pull

The carrier moved 3.7 million passengers across 27,300 flights in the quarter, up 6.4% and 1.5% respectively, with traffic outpacing capacity to produce a load-factor lift. Management attributed the operational improvement specifically to North America and South America — read New York, Boston, Miami, Washington, São Paulo and Rio — where TAP's Star Alliance feed has continued to underwrite the long-haul book despite the Middle East-driven fuel premium that has cut into broader European airline margins this spring.

Recurrent EBIT was still negative at €36.1 million, a reminder that the airline's depreciation and amortisation load remains heavy following the post-pandemic fleet refresh. But the gap between EBITDA and EBIT is now the narrowest it has been since the 2023 recapitalisation, and the cash conversion implied by an EBITDA-to-revenue ratio above 10% for a Q1 — historically TAP's weakest quarter — points to a full-year glide path that could deliver a small positive net result if the long-haul mix holds through the summer.

The Privatisation Setup

The government holds 100% of TAP and is selling 49.9% to a strategic partner. ANAC's revised civil-aviation penalty regime took effect this month, raising the regulatory stakes for whichever group ends up at the controls. Lisbon's hub case rests on the southern-European-to-Brazil geometry that Air France-KLM has talked up most explicitly; Lufthansa has pitched a Star-Alliance northern-hub fit; IAG sits in the middle, with British Airways and Iberia feed into the picture. The €914 million quarter is the cleanest piece of evidence the bidders have yet seen that the asset is worth the prices on the table.

The recovery also lands alongside other domestic-aviation files: SATA's fog-driven rotations in the Azores and the Figueira da Foz €800 million sustainable-aviation-fuel plant that will, from late 2028, sell directly into TAP's long-haul jet-fuel stack.

What This Means for Expats

• Fare stability: A narrower Q1 loss makes it less likely TAP needs to discount aggressively into the summer. Lisbon-Brazil and Lisbon-North America fares are likely to hold rather than soften.
• Network confidence: All three bidders have committed to keeping Lisbon as a hub. The €914 million quarter is the strongest evidence to date that the long-haul Americas network is a profitable franchise rather than a political artefact.
• Loyalty calculus: If you are weighing TAP Miles&Go against Flying Blue (Air France-KLM) or Miles & More (Lufthansa), today's numbers tilt slightly towards holding TAP status until the binding-offer signal lands.
• Privatisation timeline: A binding decision is still expected in H2 2026; ownership transfer is unlikely before 2027.

For a community that depends on the Lisbon hub for the Brazil, US East Coast, France and UK connections that bind Portugal to its diasporas, the Q1 read is the most encouraging operational tape in two years — and the cleanest argument the bidders now have that the asset is worth the binding offers about to land on Pinto Luz's desk.