SNPVAC: 49% sale is a bridge for the buyer to reach 100%

The president of the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC), Ricardo Penarroias, said this Friday that the sale of 49% of TAP is “a bridge” for a potential buyer to reach 100%.

“The 49% is a bridge so that a potential buyer can later reach 100%,” said the union president in statements to Lusa.

Ricardo Penarroias also said he was concerned about the terms of the sale, given that the government failed to "discuss the matter with the cabin crew." "We have many reservations, especially because, once again, the government failed to discuss the matter with the cabin crew," he reiterated.

The president also recalled that “the main objective is to maintain jobs” and not just for “36 months”.

The union leader also said that this announcement of the airline's sale does not serve "the company's economic interests" nor does it "safeguard the country's economic interests," but rather "the political interests of a party."

"And what we ultimately witnessed was a sad spectacle, in which if the objective was to devalue the company, then the work was well done, but with the awareness of providing a disservice to the company and the country," said the president of SNPVAC.

The Government approved on Thursday the decree-law that begins the privatization process of TAP and in which it intends to sell up to 49% of the airline's capital.

The approval of the decree-law with the conditions for the sale of TAP is the first step towards starting the sale of the airline, which will once again have private shareholders after the Government moved towards nationalization in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic on air transport.