By Aimee Look

Air France-KLM said it submitted a bid to purchase a stake in Portugal's state-owned airline TAP, entering the running to buy into a carrier prized for its routes linking southern Europe and Latin America.

A spokesperson for Air France-KLM said Wednesday that the airline group had submitted a bid to Portugal's state-holding company Parpublica to participate in the process of TAP Air Portugal's privatization. Air France-KLM didn't disclose financial details of the bid.

The move comes after the Portuguese government said it would sell a 49.9% stake in its national carrier---with 44.9% to private investors and the remaining 5% set aside for company employees. Portuguese officials have talked about plans to sell a stake in TAP for years.

British Airways' parent International Consolidated Airlines Group, Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa showed interest. The sale would require buyers to keep its main hub in Lisbon.

TAP's placement on the Iberian Peninsula makes for a prime geographical location, and the carrier's access to the Latin American market--particularly Brazil--is attractive for Air France-KLM, Chief Executive Benjamin Smith said on a call with analysts in early July.

At the time, Smith said that the company was looking to better understand what Portugal was looking for in terms of ownership stake to make its decision to participate.

TAP separately said on Wednesday that it made a net profit of 125.9 million euros ($145.8 million) for the third quarter compared with 110 million euros in the same period last year, on operating revenue that rose 2.7% to 1.33 billion euros.

Write to Aimee Look at aimee.look@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 19, 2025 09:10 ET (14:10 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.