Portugal's TAP sees strong growth potential in Brazil, Africa

By Sergio Goncalves

LISBON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Portugal's soon-to-be-privatised airline TAP is well-positioned to tap into strong growth potential in Brazil and Africa, Chief Executive Luis Rodrigues said on Wednesday.

The airline operates routes to 13 Brazilian cities and 14 destinations in Africa, including Portuguese-speaking countries such as Angola and Mozambique.

"We are fortunate to be well-positioned to tackle both of them (Brazil and Africa)," he said at the World Aviation Festival in Lisbon.

"Brazil is a promising country, and there's still a huge opportunity there," he added, pointing to data showing tourism in Brazil only representing about 6% of gross domestic product, while in Portugal it accounts for about 16%.

"In a country that is 20 times as big as Portugal, the opportunity is huge," Rodrigues said, adding though that while "Africa is bigger than that", countries there still had more structural constraints.

According to the CEO, TAP has "a good geographical balance" between North America, South America, Europe, and Africa, which allows for flexibility because "not all routes look good or bad at the same time".

He also saw good prospects for TAP to grow in non-passenger businesses, such as maintenance and engineering.

Portugal relaunched the long-delayed privatisation of TAP in July, aiming to sell a 44.9% stake to an airline that could bring global scale and competitiveness, with an additional 5% to be offered to TAP employees.

"The time of (TAP) being proudly alone is gone, there was a time when it was possible, but not anymore and I'd be happy to be integrated into a larger group," Rodrigues said.

The government wants the new partner, which will take over TAP's day-to-day management, to strengthen the airline's position as a global operator.