Swissair parent SAirGroup has taken a further step towards consolidating its European alliance with the acquisition of a 42% stake in Portugalia.
The regional airline, which operates 12 aircraft to 20 destinations in Europe, codeshares on Swissair flights and will become the twelfth member of the rapidly expanding Qualiflyer grouping.
"We're interested in both Portuguese carriers as Portugalia and TAP Air Portugal fit in very well with the Qualiflyer group strategy. Our idea is that Portugalia can be used as a feeder for TAP's international flights, similar to the Crossair and Swissair feeder situation," says the SAirGroup.
The move follows SAirGroup's April agreement to take a 20% stake in state-owned TAP Air Portugal. This has been put "on hold" because of a pilot pay dispute, says SAirGroup. According to pilots' union SPAC, however, talks on a new deal are well advanced and the Portuguese flag carrier is close to agreeing a deal. The airline has refused to comment on the issue.
The Portuguese Government has long sought to sell off the two carriers and had been struggling to find a solution which would bind the two together. SAirGroup says that it does not plan to merge the two Portuguese airlines "at the moment".
Source: Airline Business