Christine Ourmières-Widener, a former chief executive of TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon), will contest her dismissal earlier this year in court, sources told the business daily Jornal de Negócios. Her lawyers have reportedly filed a compensation claim of EUR5.9 million euros (USD6.3 million).
Ourmières-Widener, who is French and who in July became CEO of Air Caraibes (TX, Pointe à Pitre) and French Bee (BF, Paris Orly) parent Groupe Dubreuil, was Group CEO at TAP from June 2021 to April 2023. Before that, she was chief executive of flybe. (2002), having previously held senior posts at CityJet, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and Air France.
When she was fired from TAP, she accused Portugal’s auditor general (Inspeção-Geral de Finanças - IGF), which was investigating a severance payment of EUR500,000 (USD535,000) handed the previous year to a former executive board member, of “discriminatory behaviour”. At the time she hinted at, “in due time, legal consequences” in retaliation, in an effort to restore her “honour and reputation”.
This was especially the case given her “perplexity at finding that, regrettably, she was the only person directly involved” in a probe and audit at TAP “who was not heard personally before the IGF.”
According to Jornal de Negócios, her lawyers are now finalising part of a “counterattack” that may involve the launch of several cases in different courts.
According to the digital economic journal ECO, citing records at the Portuguese judicial site Portal Citius, one of the cases filed at the Central Civil Court of Lisbon mentions the request for EUR5.9 million in compensation, the defendants being the companies TAP SA and TAP SGPS. A lawyer for the former chief executive, Inês Arruda, reiterated to ECO the information made available at Citius, avoiding, for now, making further comments.
