Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group have submitted final, binding offers for a 44.9% stake in TAP Air Portugal, closing the bid phase of the Portuguese flag carrier's re-privatization with only two contenders remaining.

Parpública, the Portuguese government entity running the sale, invited the final, binding offers on September 4, 2026, according to a resolution published in Diário da República. Both airline groups had already tabled initial bids in July 2026.

The two European giants are the sole bidders left in a process that Lisbon hopes will re-anchor TAP within a major network group after years of state control.

What do the bids contain?

The Portuguese government has not disclosed the content of either offer. Both are widely expected to improve on the terms of the July 2026 first-round bids in order to win the stake.

One detail has reportedly surfaced. Portuguese newspaper Jornal Economico reported on September 11, 2026 that the Air France-KLM offer includes the option of paying part of the acquisition price in shares of the Franco-Dutch group rather than in cash. If confirmed, such a structure would give the Portuguese state a continuing equity interest in the acquiring group rather than a one-off cash exit.

No comparable details have leaked from the Lufthansa bid.

What is Air France-KLM promising?

Benjamin Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Air France-KLM, posted a statement on LinkedIn on September 30, 2026 reaffirming the group's interest in TAP and setting out his vision for the carrier.

Smith committed to respecting TAP's own corporate and brand identity and to strengthening the airline's role as a transatlantic connector. He also expressed the ambition to make Lisbon the exclusive southern European hub of the Air France-KLM Group — language that signals where the Portuguese capital would sit in the group's network architecture alongside Paris and Amsterdam.

Lufthansa Group has not made a comparable public statement at this stage of the process.

How will Portugal decide?

The Portuguese government will now evaluate the two bids over a period of two weeks, weighing the financial proposals against each other.

Money will not be the only criterion. Officials will also assess elements strategic to the future of Portuguese commercial aviation and national air connectivity, including:

• Future investment commitments
• Workforce development
• Environmental measures

That evaluation framework gives Lisbon leverage beyond headline price: a bidder offering stronger fleet investment, employment guarantees or sustainability commitments could offset a lower cash valuation.

What is at stake?

TAP's attraction for both groups lies in its transatlantic franchise. The carrier's Lisbon base offers network reach into Brazil, Portuguese-speaking Africa and North America that neither Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt nor Munich currently replicates at comparable scale in those markets.

For the winner, the 44.9% stake would extend consolidation of Europe's airline industry one step further, after a decade in which IAG, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have each absorbed or taken positions in national carriers across the continent. For the loser, the sale closes a door to southern European and South Atlantic growth that has few remaining substitutes.

A decision is expected within roughly two weeks of the final submissions, and the outcome will determine which of Europe's two largest hub-and-spoke groups gains control of Portugal's flag carrier and its Lisbon gateway.