By Sergio Goncalves
LISBON (Reuters) – The CEO of Air France-KLM, Ben Smith, said on Friday the airline was ready to present its project for the privatisation of Portugal’s flag carrier TAP, and intended to invest in local economy and connect the country’s secondary cities.
The Franco-Dutch group, Lufthansa and British Airways owner IAG have already shown interest in TAP’s privatisation, which the government wants to carry out this year.
“Air France-KLM is ready to present its project as part of TAP’s privatisation process, a topic we have been following for a long time,” Smith said in a statement during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Portugal.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, who had previously insisted on a total privatisation of TAP, has signalled that a partial sale was a possibility.
The French president, speaking to Portuguese and French business leaders on Friday, said he “wants to find an innovative way to marry Air France and TAP”.
Smith said Portugal is “a strategic market for Air France-KLM” and TAP is an “emblematic airline that has built a powerful hub in Lisbon, open to the world.”
TAP’s most attractive assets are its key slots to Brazil, Portuguese-speaking African countries and the U.S. from its Lisbon hub, which the Portuguese government wants to maintain.
“We want to maintain and develop TAP’s strong brand and highly valuable hub, drawing on the expertise of the company’s staff.”
Smith said his groups wants “to strengthen the connectivity of the entire country, including secondary cities, and invest durably in the local economy”.
Air France-KLM said last month it was exploring potential cooperation on sustainable aviation fuel with Portuguese partners ahead of the privatisation.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, writing by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Alistair Bell)
