TAP to get €100M for Covid compensation

 In Aviation, News, TAP

The Government is still waiting for the green light from Brussels to inject around €536 million of capital into the national carrier TAP that was promised for 2021.

It is authorisation for the State to deliver around €100M in compensation from the impact of the pandemic. The remainder, which is the main chunk, depends on the European Commission’s go-ahead for TAP’s restructuring plan.
The airline has already received €462 million as compensation for losses cased by the pandemic between 19 March and 30 June.
Nevertheless, there is still €436 million of the €998 million for this year yet to be paid. The money had been included in the State Budget for 2022 – money, which unlike the Covid compensation, depends on the acceptance by Brussels of the restructuring plan which has already been approved by the government and is waiting to proceed.
The authorisation for the first tranche of Covid compensation arrived in April followed by a capital raise for TAP in May. That operation saw the State taking control of almost the entire business after buying most of minor shareholder Humberto Pedrosa’s shares (he now only has 1.8%). TAP staff hold 0.4%.