“Over time, we would like to have a path to a majority [position] because it would give the business the possibility to grow without investment from other shareholders,” said IAG director Jonathan Sullivan, in a meeting with Portuguese journalists in Dublin, Ireland.

The official added that this interest in a majority position in TAP has already been expressed to the Portuguese Government, and now the group is waiting to learn the conditions for the deal. “We don’t know if we’re going to participate or not, it depends on the conditions,” highlighted Jonathan Sullivan.

The Government recently met with interested parties in purchasing the Portuguese airline, as part of the reprivatisation process prepared by the previous socialist executive, which wanted to conclude it in 2024, but which was put on hold with the change of Government.

In addition to IAG, European groups Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have also publicly expressed interest in the deal.

Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said in an interview with Público that the reprivatisation would accelerate after the approval of the State Budget at the end of November, adding that there is consensus on privatization, but not on the percentage to be sold.

The IAG director pointed out that the TAP deal is interesting for “many reasons”, such as the ‘hub’ (flight distribution platform), which he considered “a tremendous asset”, the connectivity with Latin America and South America North, which would be “a good complement” to the operations of the companies that make up the IAG group, such as Aer Lingus.

The Irish flag carrier was bought by IAG in 2015, in a process that raised some concerns from the Government, which retained a stake and imposed conditions such as maintaining the brand, the Dublin hub and connectivity with London – Heathrow.

“[The Portuguese Government] is very similar to the Irish one and we encourage that, because it has been good for the population, it is good that the Government is involved with strategic interests, as the Irish one has been”, pointed out the IAG official.

“[If we buy,] we want TAP to remain proudly Portuguese,” the director highlighted.

Asked about concerns regarding the end of TAP's hub in Lisbon, due to its proximity to Iberia's hub in Madrid, another airline in the aviation group, Sullivan assured that the group's interest, if it goes ahead with the purchase, is to develop the two 'hubs'.