PORTUGÁLIA AIRLINES confirmed on Monday that 99.81 per cent of its total shares had been acquired by TAP Air Portugal, in a deal worth an estimated 140 million euros.
TAP Air Portugal and Espírito Santo International struck a financial accord, which facilitated the takeover.
Six per cent of Portugália’s shares in Groundforce, which was the successor to the handling services of TAP Air Portugal and was founded in 1945, will also be sold to TAP at a cost of four million euros.
TAP Air Portugal said that Portugália would retain its name and scheduled flights, apart from the Lisbon-Porto route, which will be altered slightly.
Flights will be alternated between the two companies in an effort to avoid two flights leaving at the same time.
Fernando Pinto, the head of TAP airlines said it was a “strategic step for the development of TAP, allowing a better satisfaction in terms of customers’ needs”.
He added that the takeover will allow them to “compete with other companies from abroad”.
The deal will only be finalised when it has been approved by the Autoridade Concorrência, the competition authority, as they are the two largest aviation companies operating in Portugal.
