Portugal's government is considering selling a minority shareholding in the country’s state-owned flag-carrier TAP Air Portugal.
Infrastructure minister Miguel Pinto Luz said last week that the government was considering plans to sell a stake of up to 49 per cent in TAP.
The current Portuguese government wants to sell 100 per cent of the airline but does not have sufficient support in parliament from opposition parties to allow this to happen.
European’s largest aviation firms, including Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM and British Airways’ owner IAG, have all previously expressed an interest in acquiring TAP.
Reports suggest that a privatisation process for TAP could start in March – one of the airline’s main assets is its extensive schedule of transatlantic services from Lisbon to Brazil.
If such a deal goes ahead it will represent further consolidation of the European airline sector after Lufthansa completed its purchase of a 41 per stake in Italian carrier ITA Airways in January.