The dismissals in the administration of TAP are for “just cause” and come in the wake of the audit by the Inspectorate-General for Finance (IGF), which decreed the nullity of the agreement to leave Alexandra Reis from TAP, whereby the former administrator of the airline will have to return the compensation of €500,000 that she received when she left her duties at TAP.

The Government has chosen the current CEO of the SATA Group, Luís Rodrigues, who has been at the head of the Azorean airlines Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores since 2019, to lead TAP after the departure of Christine Ourmières-Widener.


“Turning the page”


In the speech in which he announced the exonerations of the president and chief executive of TAP, Fernando Medina explained that the Government opted for the resignation so that there could be a “turn of the page in the management of the company” and for the “bonds of trust” to be re-established ” in the national carrier, which will soon face a privatisation process.

“TAP is not just any company and it was important to mark this turning of the page in the sense of stabilisation, with the new composition of the governing bodies”, said the Minister of Finance, explaining that these changes also aim to give stability to the privatisation process of TAP.

Despite the various cases that have involved TAP and aimed especially at its administration, Fernando Medina says he has “full confidence” that the airline will successfully pursue “the path of its future sustainability, which will involve the privatisation of part of its capital”.

The Minister of Finance also clarified that TAP's financial administrator was not targeted in this audit and that he will, therefore, continue to be part of the airline's administration, without saying whether the official himself will withdraw political responsibilities from this case.

João Galamba, who revealed the choice of Luís Rodrigues to succeed Christine Ourmières-Widener, explained that the current CEO of SATA will accumulate, for the time being, both functions, defending that he is a “Portuguese member of staff”, who offers “all the conditions for the Government to be able to face the challenges of TAP”.

The audit of the IGF will now proceed, added Fernando Medina, to the Court of Auditors, in order to determine any financial responsibilities of the directors of TAP.


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