Germany's Lufthansa Group has entered the bidding race for the Portuguese state airline TAP, a spokesman for the Frankfurt-based company said on Thursday.

A non-binding offer has been submitted as a first step, the spokesman said.

The Portuguese government wants to sell 44.9% of the airline, with Air France-KLM having already entered the bidding race.

A further 5% of the shares are reserved for TAP employees, with the Portuguese state due to remain the majority shareholder with a stake just over 50%.

The bids are being evaluated. In a further step, the selected bidders will then be asked to submit a binding offer, with a decision to be made in the middle of the year.

The Portuguese government sold a majority stake in TAP in 2015, but later took back complete control. After five consecutive years of losses, the company has been in the black since 2022.

The airline, which operates a fleet of just under 100 aircraft, has a strong presence on routes to Brazil and carried around 16 million passengers in 2024.

Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr has said Lisbon could be developed into an Atlantic hub within the Lufthansa Group, particularly for flights to South America.

The aim of the takeover is to “strengthen Portugal’s global connectivity, preserve TAP’s Portuguese identity and secure the airline’s long-term growth,” Spohr said.

Lufthansa has already acquired a number of carriers in the European market, including the formerly state-owned airlines of Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.

It most recently took a minority stake in Italy's ITA Airways, which could be raised to 90% by the end of the year.