Portugal's TAP at risk: chairman in Xmas letter to employees

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Portugal's TAP chairman warned employees on Friday the company's survival is "at risk" if the current instability continues.

The airline has seen a series of delays costing it millions of euros in the second half of the year, with syndicates protesting against future plans to privatize the company, which they say would lead to job losses and lower wages.

In a letter to employees, Fernando Pinto writes: "I feel it is my duty to say clearly that TAP's survival is at risk if the current instability is prolonged and we don't quickly normalize the relationship of confidence we have with our market."

TAP, which employs over 12,000 staff, had to cancel over 700 flights in a year due to strikes and recently TAP also lost its financial administrator, Luis Rodrigues, at a critical time for the company.

Earlier this month employees announced a four-day strike during the Christmas period, from Dec. 27 to 30 , which forced the authorities to threaten to sack people or bring criminal charges against them.

Portugal recently announced it had chosen Citigroup to assist the sale of the state-owned airline, and plans to sell as much as 66 percent of TAP.

The government's plans to privatize the company were relaunched on Nov. 13 after its first attempt failed at the end of 2012, when the government rejected an offer from Group Synergy, led by Brazilian investor German Efromovich, because it didn't meet necessary banking requirements.

The sale of TAP was agreed in 2011 as part of a deal the country signed in 2011 under a 78-billion-euro (about 95 billion U.S. dollars) bailout program with the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission. Endit

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