This was nothing more than about gaining in Brazil. For AF/KL they already have a pretty decent route structure to Brazil. Even to secondary markets like Fortaleza and Salvador. I would imagine that AF's bid was more to push LH to offer too much as between AF/KL they could easily add additional routes out of Paris with similar connectivity, better service than TAP, and a more seamless connection than compared to LIS. Further, if LATAM gets cozier with Skyteam all bets are off.
LH had to do it, but AF did a great job in making sure they paid well for it.
TAP is often the cheapest for transatlantic. If they want to do their job correctly, EU competition authority should not allow them to put their North Atlantic ops in JV. Incidentally, I don't know why people would say TAP offers poor service accross the Atlantic. I have flown them on several occasions, both business and economy, and I was always happy with what I received. The lounges in Lisbon have insufficient capacity and terrible seating arrangements but the food if great once you manage to get in. Onboard service is very nice, with great food on all aircraft types and nice seating with large screens on A321 neo.
Portuguese government once again confirming all stereotypes. Bunch of fools (or corruptees, make your own conclusion).
Hey, LH hasn't had a strike since April. No thanks to connecting through CDG!
And besides, now I will be able to get roast goose in chimichuri sauce for Christmas.
I fly TAP regularly from Brazil to Lisbon. They give a good service and have excellent food too. I’m happy LH is the winner so we can continue experiencing Star alliance benefits.
... but be mindful that food will be eliminated (Y) or become inedible (C) and service will become non-existant.
No matter how one slices it, TAP and LIS as hub are terrible. Regardless who picks them up. It has the longest distance for any intra-european flights, the usually more comfortable (J|F fares) wide bodies fly shorter (Atlantic) or longer, needing you to backtrack (Asia) for European destinations from said hub. MAD can get away it it, LIS adds that extra half hour and is a terrible airport with no future.
Plus it will continue to be ideal place to deploy narrow body airplanes (LR,XLR) over the Atlantic, no thanks.
Even if KLAF or oneWorld would snag TAP, it wouldn't change geography. TAP/LIS will remain what they are, a low cost and low effort options for some places.
That's a load of rubbish, LIS has an excellent location for the Americas and W. Africa. People don't want to fly all the way to LON/PAR/AMS then backtrack to reach the Iberian peninsula/Italy/Morocco.
Yay, another airline for Carsten Spohr to neglect, pissing off labor, neglecting customers, and removing all vestiges of the host country's identity in the name of "rationalizing" costs by providing the exact same things as the other airlines in his stable of garbage (SWISS being one minor exception).
It's a pity AFLKLM didn't get it - Ben Smith seems to be quite the miracle worker for the carriers he touches.
Nice to see they are choosing LH group over money while the government explicitly said the decision won’t be taken over money… fools
Very bad news. Another airline swallowed up by the tractor beam into the LH Death Star, where Senator Palpatine (aka Carsten Spohr) can enshittify it to the max.
The Good Guys win another one, and DieTeam is prevented from expanding, carrying along with it the evil that is Delta. Don't be charmed by those Delft houses. There's some serious evil churning there.
Will be interesting to see how long regulatory approval takes. Not optimistic. Beautiful 747, btw.
It's really sad and I hope regulators will block it. TP offers competitive fares for a far better product than LH. And labour relations are a relevant criteria, too. As a TAP *A Gold this means I have to look elsewhere ...
I think they will. This gives LH group an unfair advantage in southern Europe. They already have ITA, Aegean and now TAP. I thinks regulators will ask for a lot of concessions that LH won’t agree to and will inevitably make them walk away from the deal. The Portuguese government is being very short sighted here.
One point that no one seems to notice is that Lufthansa Technik has been ramping up operations in Portugal with even a training facility & creating jobs there. I’m pretty sure that that contributed to the government’s decision to favor Lufthansa’s bid.
Next: LOT.
Sad news. There goes one more European airline...
The comments here about what competition regulators will or will not do are not grounded in reality. The European Commission is unlikely to block the investment full-stop. Instead, it will look at the need for divestment of slots at Lisbon airport, measures to preserve competition on overlapping routes, and the implications of having TAP joint Lufthansa's trans-Atlantic joint venture.
Lufthansa is the king of mediocrity and has a full airline portfolio to show for it (except for maybe OS). They'll ruin the few things that made TP flying a good deal.
This could potentially open up an interesting opportunity with the TAP Miles & Go program. For the most part, this is a sleeper Capital One transfer partner because it's not a very good program, but if TAP will adopt the Miles and More program (like other Lufthansa Group airlines, and some other affiliated ones like Croatia Airlines) this could be an opportunity to get Miles and More points.
Der Kaiser now has:
- Europe cut right down the middle (Brussels, Swiss, Austrian, ITA, Lufthansa);
- its flanks covered (TAP & Luft-Baltic)
- regional service (Air Dolomiti & Lufthansa City)
- LCC & Leisure (Euro Wings & Discover & part of SunExpress)
- auxiliary groups (Lufthansa Technik & Cargo & Systems)
Der Kaiser can no longer think like a Flag carrier. The next step is to:
- adopt the mindset of a Mega carrier like DL, UA, or AA
- leverage its eight plus Euro hubs and multiple focus cities via a single dispatch view
- demonstrate that any Euro can get to any place in the world in two flights or less via the holding company and/or Star Alliance
- treat each airline and auxiliary group as an operating unit, not a flag carrier or favorite child
- maintain the local flavor of each airline via a respective President (uniforms, website, native tongue, marketing, PR, etc)
- consolidate all back office operations (purchasing, dispatch, IT, HR, accounting, etc) for economy of scale
- leverage Star Alliance by adopting another US carrier besides UA (Der Kaiser has significant influence as a founding member) as well as other airlines around the world; most every airline is looking for a dance partner at the moment.
- realize there is only space in Europa for two or three mega carriers (Der Kaiser via Star; IA Group via OneWorld; & AF-KLM via SkyTeam) just like North America.
- understand the rest of Europa is eaten up via ULCC (Ryan, EasyJet, SmartWings), and some of these are near the edge of collapse
- rationalize the credit card programs, pick one or two banks and play them off each other
- rationalize the multiple FF programs
Der Kaiser has all his piece on the Chess board.
Now is the time to move a with steady, but deliberate strategy to survive and thrive in the long run.
If not, will end up like another SwissAir that gets gobbled up.