TAP Air Portugal returns to profit for the first time since 2017

TAP Air Portugal came out of the red last year by posting a net profit, at 65.6 million euros, for the first time since 2017.

In 2021, the loss of TAP Air Portugal, which was renationalised in 2020 and is currently subject to a restructuring plan, amounted to almost 1.6 billion euros. The turnover of the airline group, which the government wishes to reprivatise, amounted to nearly 3.5 billion euros, an increase of 151% compared to 2021, underlines the group.

The Portuguese company, which had posted a net profit (at 21 million euros) for the last time in 2017, thus returns to profits two years before the objective set in its rescue plan imposed by Brussels.

“During the first full year of the implementation of the restructuring plan, TAP generated an operating profit which is an all-time high for the company,” underlined the managing director of TAP Christine Ourmières-Widener, who was nevertheless unceremoniously dismissed over line television at the beginning of the month. “During the fourth quarter of 2022, TAP was able to generate the highest quarterly revenues in its history and record profitability.”

However, economist João Duque has been telling reporters that the profits for 2022 “are not sufficient to recover past losses”.

By refusing the outgoing CEO’s request to present these results in a press conference, the government has effectively diminished today’s news.

The Portuguese airline group, whose difficulties had increased with the Covid-19 pandemic, was completely renationalised in 2020, in exchange for the application of a rescue plan amounting to 3.2 billion euros that included a drastic reduction in its workforce, in its fleet and in wages.

TAP carried 13.8 million passengers last year, up 136.1% from 2021, “reaching 81% of the level recorded in 2019“, before the Covid-19 pandemic, the group said. The number of flights operated increased by 74.9%, last year, reaching 79% of pre-pandemic crisis levels.