Questioned by Lusa during the ConfCAQ 2026 – Conference on Cabin Air Quality, Hélder Santinhos said he views TAP’s published quarterly results “favourably”.
Less losses
TAP Air Portugal‘s losses fell to €39.9 million in the first quarter of the year, a recovery the airline attributes to markets such as South America and North America.
In a statement, the Portuguese airline highlighted 11% growth in operating revenues to €914.4 million compared with the same period last year, driven mainly by increased passenger revenues and improved unit revenues, amid capacity growth (+3.9%).
“What we want is for the companies to be as successful as possible,” said the union leader, adding that SPAC has always maintained that TAP is a profitable company.
Hélder Santinhos said that the problems the Portuguese airline has had in the past stemmed from political decisions and Covid-19, which “fortunately had some good things,” referring to the sale of TAP’s maintenance business in Brazil.
“With that anchor gone, it doesn’t surprise me at all that TAP’s results are good,” he said.
Privatisation process
Regarding the impact of these results on the privatisation process, the president of SPA said that the interested companies think at a strategic level, so “they will not have a great influence.”
“They [Lufthansa and Air France-KLM] see the importance of Portugal, the company’s cost structure, and our way of working. We have very good professionals, both pilots and maintenance,” he said.
For Helder Santinhos, “both companies are very committed to privatisation and will submit proposals regardless of the results.”
Labor issues
Regarding the interest of both companies, the union president preferred not to comment on a preferred candidate, saying he was “very concerned” about how Lufthansa approaches labour relations.
In a letter sent to the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing in April, SPAC stated that it is in favour of the reprivatisation of TAP, but only if potential buyers demonstrate “solid integrity” in technical, financial, and labour terms.
In the case of Lufthansa, the union said it was concerned about the company’s relationship with VC Cockpit, the main German pilots’ union, and referred to “attitudes of disregard for existing agreements” and “unethical anti-union tactics that, if imported to TAP, would seriously compromise social and labour peace and the efficiency of the Lisbon Hub.”
“This leads us to believe that there is a strategy to neutralise the power of the unions. We have already raised this concern with the Government, because the last thing TAP needs is labour unrest in a post-privatisation period,” he said.
Helder Santinhos said he had not received any response from Luís Montenegro’s executive.