TAP Air Portugal CEO “great supporter” of privatisation

The decree law for the reprivatisation of the airline will be approved on Thursday

The CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAP, Luís Rodrigues, said today that he is “a great supporter of the privatisation” of the airline, believing that the process “will go well”.

“Tomorrow (Thursday) should be a great day,” said the Rodrigues in a speech at the World Aviation Festival in Lisbon on the eve of the approval of the decree law for the reprivatisation of the airline, which will detail the conditions of the operation.

“I think it will go well. I’m a great supporter of privatisation, there’s no doubt about that,” added Luís Rodrigues at the event taking place at FIL in Lisbon until Thursday.

Luís Rodrigues, who took over the leadership of the company on April 14 after working for the Azores airline SATA, acknowledged today that “there is always one step after another” to take towards this goal.

The head of the company emphasised that these steps are being taken and that he hoped that “sometime next year, a little more will have been done”.

Last week in parliament, Prime Minister António Costa raised the possibility, among different scenarios, of privatising all of TAP’s capital, although he indicated that the amount had not yet been defined and would depend on the partner that is chosen.

In his opening speech in the debate, António Costa announced that the government would approve the law establishing the framework for TAP’s privatisation process at the cabinet meeting on September 28.

Source: LUSA