TAP airline in crisis as Portuguese entrepreneur announces multi-million euro purchase bid

The crisis within TAP Portugal went into overdrive this weekend after pilots voted for a one-day strike on August 9. Citing “profound structural problems” within the organisation, the pilots decision – announced after a tense five-hour meeting on Friday – will have serious repercussions.
The airline is already in trouble over mounting flight delays and cancellations. Only last week Economy minister Pires de Lima declared TAP’s problems were damaging the image of the country. A strike in the middle of the busiest month of the holiday season will only make things worse.
But, as if by magic, a swashbuckling millionaire Portuguese entrepreneur has stepped into the fray, with the announcement that he is putting together a deal to buy-up the airline that the government has been trying – with spectacular lack of success – to privatise for the last three years. Miguel Pais do Amaral – the former boss of Spanish group Prisa which controls TVI and a business-brain with a Midas-touch and passion for fast cars – is a descendant of the legendary Marquis of Pombal and the 4th Count of Alferrarede. He revealed his plans on the very day 168 of TAP’s pilots voted to strike.
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