TAP Air Portugal, CEO, Luís Rodrigues at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit World 2025
TAP Air Portugal, CEO, Luís Rodrigues spoke to CAPA TV at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit World 2025, hosted in Lisbon, about latest industry trends and company developments.
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Transcript
Luís Rodrigues:I think we're just about making as the agreed schedule that the government decided to. We are at the end of phase 1, and we should have a report any of these days on who the decision maker decides who's going to the next phase. So we are fulfilling the calendar, if you will, which is good. We need to keep pushing that. I'm very positive. And the truth is, as I've been talking about before, 10 years ago we had the first privatization process and there was one candidate that was not even admitted. In 2016, we had the second attempt and there was one candidate which was a second-tier company that was admitted and the process went further, but was then reversed a few years later. This time we have the 3 leading European players. I think that speaks for itself on the quality of the job that the company has been doing, and I'm very happy for that. This industry is increasingly difficult to survive on its own without significant scale. The times have changed significantly, and we mostly want to be part of a group where we can build on synergies, that we can add value, and we can take advantage of the scale to reduce the overall cost. So making sure we are in conditions to project the name of the company and the country further up. It's an historical thing. I mean, first, it leverages on our unique geographical position. We are the closest point to the South America continent. We can fly, go back and forth in one day, which is difficult for everybody else, if not impossible. We have significant cultural advantages, ties to the region. We speak essentially the language. They feel comfortable flying with us. I think that's our biggest advantage. We have 2 other very strong assets that I think we need to present ourselves with, which is a maintenance and engineering business which is fantastic with great people. And third, a level and quality of people overall that can travel anywhere and do a great job anywhere. So those 3 advantages or those 3 assets, network to South America, maintenance and engineering business and quality of people, I think that's what's attracting the buyers. I think we need to be focused on what are our unique assets. There will be people better positioned to fly to Asia. It doesn't mean we won't do it at all, but I don't think it will ever be a significant strategic advantage that we may have in flying to Asia. Coping with volatile timings and making sure everybody's mental health is in place to deliver a great organization and a great operation. That's what we're looking for.
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