TAP CEO says privatisation to be relaunched in Sep-2013; Emirates, Qatar, TAM and Lufthansa out

TAP Portugal CEO Fernando Pinto said the carrier's privatisation process will be relaunched in Sep-2013 (Jornal Noticias, 04-Jun-2013). Mr Pinto said, "From September we will restart the process of privatisation and this will create more investment capacity for the company." Meanwhile, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa and TAM Airlines are reportedly not interested in making a bid for the carrier (Publico, 04-Jun-2013). As previously reported by CAPA, Portugal's Transport Secretary Sergio Monteiro recently said the carrier's privatisation would be relaunched once favourable market conditions existed and that this would likely be in 2H2013. Synergy Group owner and previous bidder German Efromovich retains his interest in the carrier, while JetBlue Airways and Azul founder David Neeleman is also reportedly interested.