Luís Montenegro made a statement to journalists at the official residence in São Bento, in the middle of the Council of Ministers meeting, without the right to ask questions.

"We approved a decree-law in which we fulfill a constant point in our electoral and government program: the reprivatisation of 49.9% of TAP's share capital," Montenegro emphasised, declaring this the "kick-off" for this first phase of reprivatisation.

The Prime Minister postponed further details about this decree-law, which will be "developed in due course with the presentation of the terms of reference," for a press conference with the Ministers of Finance and Infrastructure today at 5:00 PM, but made the political objective clear.

Montenegro argued that this reprivatisation aims to safeguard the "most strategic" routes for Portugal and "the country's strategic interest," but also to "make the operations of the national airline sustainable."

"We have already spent a lot of money that has not subsequently impacted the lives of Portuguese people. We don't want to continue pouring money into a bottomless pit. We want the company to be profitable, well-managed, competitive, financially sustainable, and serving the country's strategic interests," he said.

Montenegro detailed that the decision "incorporates the opening of capital to one or more investors of up to 44.9% of the company's capital and 5% to employees."

"This is a goal we want to ensure that our airline safeguards its hub in Lisbon, safeguards the use of all the country's airport infrastructure, particularly the current Humberto Delgado and future Luís de Camões airports (in Lisbon), but also those in Porto and Faro, and the airports in the autonomous regions," he stated.

"We must take advantage of the investments we are making in all airports, in our entire road network, in our entire rail network, so that people can move around, but also so that our companies can be more competitive, so that our tourism sector can achieve even better results," he stated.

In this process, the Executive intends to divest up to 49.9% of the airline's capital through a direct sale model, reserving up to 5% for employees, as provided for in the privatisation law.

This is the first step toward starting the sale of TAP, which will once again have private shareholders after the government moved toward nationalisation in 2020 due to the pandemic's impact on air transport.

The decree-law will also have to be approved by the President of the Republic, who, in October 2023, vetoed the document prepared by António Costa's government to initiate TAP's privatisation. At the time, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa decided to return the document, approved by the Council of Ministers on September 28 of that year, considering that it "raised multiple doubts and reservations in light of the desired maximum transparency of the process."

The airline's reprivatisation has been on the table since 2023, but was halted with the fall of the last two Socialist Party (PS) and Social Democratic Party (PSD) governments.

Originally state-owned, TAP was partially privatised in 2015, but the process was reversed in 2016 by António Costa's government, which regained 50% of the company.

Last year, Luís Montenegro's executive returned to the topic and expressed its intention to move forward with the sale of a minority stake in 2025. Since then, negotiations have been underway with major European groups such as Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, and IAG.