Portugal Says Carrier TAP Is Strategic as It Plans Privatization

Portugal said TAP SA is more important for the country’s strategy than as a financial issue, as the government continues planning the privatization of the state-owned airline.

“TAP is much more a strategic matter than a financial matter,” Minister of the Presidency Antonio Leitao Amaro said in an interview in Lisbon on Tuesday. The privatization is an “important” process and steps are ongoing, said Amaro, who coordinates cabinet meetings. He declined to comment on the timing of the sale.