Portugal will allow students to return to school from this week and nightclubs to reopen on Jan. 14 despite a record surge in COVID-19 cases, with hospital admissions still well below levels seen earlier in the pandemic, Reuters reported. "It is evident that the Omicron variant is less severe ... vaccination has been effective against it," Prime Minister Antonio Costa told a news conference, referring to the fast-spreading variant that emerged in late 2021.
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Dielmar, a clothing company based in Alcains, in Portugal’s Castelo Branco district, with about 300 employees, has filed for insolvency after 56 years of the business, in a move that its board said was made necessary by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Macau Business reported. In a statement, the board states that “after having overcome several crises over 56 years” the company succumbed to the pandemic, as a result of “a set of situations that were lethal” for its business.
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TAP Air Portugal has filed an application in the Commercial Courts of Lisbon for the liquidation of its groundhandling company, Serviços Portugueses de Handling, S.A. (SPdH), also known by its trademark Groundforce Portugal, CH-Aviation.com reported. The airline is a creditor of Groundforce, which to date has provided ground-handling services to TAP at Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal, and Porto Santo. At the end of April, Groundforce’s board of directors approved the cancellation of its groundhandling contract with TAP, alleging that the contract, as it was structured, had been unviable.
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TAP Air Portugal has filed an application in the Commercial Courts of Lisbon for the liquidation of its groundhandling company, Serviços Portugueses de Handling, S.A. (SPdH), also known by its trademark Groundforce Portugal, CH-Aviation.com reported. The airline is a creditor of Groundforce, which to date has provided ground-handling services to TAP at Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal, and Porto Santo. At the end of April, Groundforce’s board of directors approved the cancellation of its groundhandling contract with TAP, alleging that the contract, as it was structured, had been unviable.
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Bond sales by two of Europe’s most indebted nations have been inundated by demand as an economic recovery begins to lift yields from historically low levels, Bloomberg News reported. Italy received more than 64 billion euros ($76 billion) of bids for its first new 50-year bond in almost five years via banks on Wednesday. That’s more than three times the previous record. The nation is also selling debt maturing in 2028. Meanwhile, Portugal is bringing to market a 10-year security, racking up more than 30 billion euros of orders from investors.
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Asked how much more the Portuguese government expects to spend on TAP this year, Joao Leao told Sunday’s Jornal de Negocios: “That is still being analysed,” Reuters reported. “The situation of TAP is very demanding ... that amount may have to be reconsidered because at the moment the pandemic is having a much stronger impact than expected,” Leao said. In December, a government plan to rescue TAP proposed 2,000 job cuts by 2022 and pay cuts of up to 25%, while the airline would need around 2 billion euros in extra funds with state guarantees to cover its financing needs until 2024.
Portugal is confident the European Commission will approve its plan to rescue ailing flag carrier TAP, Finance Minister Joao Leao said in an interview, adding that he expected that green light by the end of March, Reuters reported. The government unveiled its overhaul plan last month, proposing 2,000 job cuts by 2022 and pay cuts of up to 25%, while saying the airline would need around 2 billion euros ($2.46 billion) in extra funds with state guarantees to cover financing needs until 2024.
Portugal expects airline TAP will need around 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in extra funds with state guarantees to cover its financing needs until 2024 under a restructuring plan, Reuters reported. Flag carrier TAP asked for state aid in April after suspending almost all of its 2,500 weekly flights at the height of the coronavirus crisis, which hit airlines globally. The overhaul plan, which needs European Commission approval, was submitted on Thursday and envisages TAP would need to cut around 2,000 jobs by 2022 and introduce pay cuts of up to 25%.
The Portuguese government’s draft restructuring plan for ailing flag carrier TAP projects it may need around 2 billion euros of additional state aid by 2024, while thousands of jobs will be terminated to turn the airline around, three sources said, Reuters reported. One of the sources familiar with the document told Reuters it envisaged that TAP, which had a loss of 701 million euros in the first nine months of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic slashed its passenger numbers by 70%, should break even in 2025. The plan still needs to be approved by the European Commission.
A restructuring plan for Portugal’s flag carrier TAP will be sent to the European Commission in November, the secretary of state for the treasury said on Tuesday, which if approved will buy the airline time to repay a huge bailout loan, Reuters reported. TAP asked for state aid in April after the outbreak of the coronavirus forced it to suspend almost all of its 2,500 weekly flights. The European Commission approved a 1.2 billion euro rescue loan in June, contingent on the airline drawing up a restructuring plan within six months, or by the middle of December.