Portugal’s competition regulators have given the green light to Atlantic Gateway, a consortium composed of Portuguese bus company Grupo Barranquino and American aeronautical entrepreneur David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue, in their bid to purchase 61% of Portugal’s national airline.
In their decision, Portuguese authorities point out that Azul and JetBlue do not operate the same routes as TAP Air Portugal, and therefore do not present a risk of diminished competition in their Portugal-Brazil routes. The European Commission had declined to comment on the case, as it was considered to be out of its jurisdiction.
Atlantic Gateway has announced plans to invest up to 800 million euros in order to grow TAP Air Portugal’s Brazilian and US routes for 2016.
Source: Fly News
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