Lufthansa’s planned acquisition of a stake in TAP Air Portugal could give the German airline group a commanding position on flights between Europe and Brazil.
By , in News, Travel, Tourism · 20 Oct 2026, 19:03 · 0 Comments
According to aviation data company OAG, adding TAP to the Lufthansa Group would bring its share of available airline seats on these routes to 36%.
That’s a significant increase, and it helps explain why the Portuguese airline attracted so much interest during its privatisation.
TAP already accounts for around 24% of seat capacity between Europe and Brazil, making its extensive South American network one of its biggest attractions.
The Portuguese airline has spent decades building connections with Brazil, using Lisbon as a gateway for passengers travelling between the two continents.
For Lufthansa, bringing TAP into the group would strengthen its position in a market where it already operates through airlines including Lufthansa and SWISS.
What does this mean for Portugal?
The Portuguese government selected Lufthansa’s €1.2 billion offer for a stake of up to 49.9% in TAP, beating a competing bid from Air France-KLM.
The agreement would initially leave the Portuguese state with majority ownership, while giving Lufthansa responsibility for the airline’s day-to-day management.
Lufthansa has also outlined plans to expand TAP’s fleet and strengthen Lisbon’s role as an international aviation hub.
The group has suggested that some passengers currently travelling to Brazil through Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich could instead connect through Lisbon.
The deal still needs regulatory approval, with completion expected in 2028.
For Portugal, the proposed partnership could reinforce Lisbon’s importance as a gateway to Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking destinations.
But for now, the 36% figure reflects the airlines’ combined scheduled seat capacity, rather than a market share already achieved through a completed takeover.
Kam Heskin is an American writer, journalist, presenter, and actress who spent 25 years in Los Angeles building an extensive career in front of the camera. Her credits include Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, playing the female lead, Paige Morgan, in three films in The Prince & Me franchise, and major roles in the NBC daytime dramas Sunset Beach and Passions. She has also appeared in various television series including Charmed, Angel, and CSI: NY.
A graduate in Communications and Political Science, Kam has always had a parallel interest in writing and storytelling. In Los Angeles, she contributed to luxury fashion and lifestyle magazine Genlux. Since moving to Portugal in 2022, she has written for Wherever magazine, where she was a columnist and social editor, creating and running Seen in the Algarve, the magazine’s social diary, for three years.
Today, Kam writes and creates video content for The Portugal News and also presents its online weather reports. Her work draws on decades of on-camera experience, a journalist’s curiosity and the perspective of an American building a life in Portugal. Away from the camera and keyboard, she can usually be found playing padel, exploring the Algarve or spending time with her two sons.
Kam Heskin
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