The Portuguese government will kickstart the partial privatisation of TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon) with a decree to be published before October 2023, according to Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, signalling a delay in proceedings initially slated to start in July.

Speaking at a conference hosted by broadcaster CNN Portugal on July 11, Galamba said the decree would be published “soon”, but “in principle, it will not be this month” [...] it will be surely before October", he was cited by Presstur.

When pressed, the minister declined to specify what percentage the government intends to sell off and asked reporters to “wait for the decree-law”.

In April, the government said it intended to start the sale in July after two independent advisers established the airline's value, but state holding company Parpublica only hired Ernst & Young and Portuguese bank Banco Finantia to value it last week, reports Reuters.

The government has maintained it would retain a strategic stake in TAP, currently being restructured under a European Commission-approved EUR3.2 billion euro (USD3.53 billion) rescue plan. Interested parties reportedly include Air France-KLM, IAG International Airlines Group, and Lufthansa Group, although none have been prepared to comment.

TAP reported a net loss of EUR57.4 million (USD64 million) in 1Q23, a 50% improvement on the same period last year, citing increased travel demand.

Meanwhile, a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the political management of TAP was scheduled to discuss and vote on the final version of a 189-page report on July 13, including certain amendments made a day earlier following heavy criticism from opposition parties. In total, 48 of 126 proposed changes were accepted, including a Communist Party recommendation for an urgent audit of the airline by the state-owned General Inspectorate of Finance. The report is scheduled to be tabled in parliament on July 20.

Amongst other things, it recommends an investigation into the previous partial privatisation of TAP in 2015 when 61% of the share capital of holding company TAP SGPS was sold to the Atlantic Gateway consortium, then formed by the Portuguese company HPGS, SGPS, SA, controlled by businessman Humberto Pedrosa and DGN Corporation, North America Holding, controlled by David Neeleman.

In particular, the commission recommends an investigation into the role of Airbus in the privatisation of TAP in 2015; payments made by the TAP Group to Airbus, David Neeleman's companies and himself, Atlantic Gateway, the Barraqueiro Group and Fernando Pinto, and the value and reasons of all consultancies, including Seabury, paid by TAP since 2005. Also under scrutiny are Atlantic Gateway billings paid by TAP; administrators paid by Atlantic Gateway instead of by the airline between 2017 and 1019; and TAP evading social security payments.