TAP Air Portugal falls to €59.3m quarterly loss

TAP Air Portugal reported a €59.3 million, or $68.8 million, net loss for the second quarter as fuel costs weighed on the airline before its planned reprivatisation.

The Portuguese carrier had made a €38.3 million profit in the same period last year.

TAP said it carried a record 8.2 million passengers and took in record revenue of just over €2 billion in the first half of the year. It said higher fuel costs linked to the war in the Middle East had a €99.2 million negative impact.

Chief executive Luis Rodrigues said demand across the airline's network helped soften the effect of higher fuel prices.

TAP was renationalised in 2020 to stem losses during the Covid-19 pandemic and is now in the final stages of reprivatisation. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa said in July that they had submitted bids to acquire a controlling stake in the airline.