Klarna, the Stockholm-based payments company, and TAP Air Portugal announced on Tuesday 13 October that they are extending their partnership from Portugal to Spain, France, Italy and the United States. Customers buying tickets on the airline’s website in those four markets can now split the fare into three equal interest-free instalments, pay in full, or spread the cost over a longer period through Klarna’s financing product, tnews.pt reported from the Swedish company’s announcement. The next day, the Portuguese government named Lufthansa the winner of TAP’s partial privatisation, with an offer of €1,201 million. The choice keeps TAP on the Star Alliance side of European aviation, while SAS, the Scandinavian airline, waits for Air France-KLM to take majority control of it.
| 13 Oct 2026 | TAP and Klarna extend flexible payments to Spain, France, Italy and the US (Portugal live since 17 April 2025) |
|---|---|
| 14 Oct 2026 | Government selects Lufthansa for 44.9% of TAP, up to 49.9% if workers do not take their 5% |
| Winning offer | €1,201 million for the first phase; Air France-KLM’s offer valued at €1,038 million |
| State stake | 50.1% in the first phase; a second phase to sell a majority is being prepared |
| Expected timing | First-phase close targeted for early 2028; possible second phase by July 2028 |
| Still pending | EU competition approval of the TAP sale; regulatory clearance of Air France-KLM’s move to 60.5% of SAS |
Sources: tnews.pt and Executive Digest, 13 October 2026; ECO, 17 April 2025; Executive Digest and CNBC, 14 October 2026; Aviation Week, 9 October 2026.
Portugal was the test market
The partnership began in Portugal. From Thursday 17 April 2025, passengers in Portugal could pay for TAP tickets in up to three interest-free instalments through Klarna, ECO reported at the time. The option was launched in Easter week and covered around 90 destinations in Europe, the Americas and Africa. ECO described TAP as only the second carrier in Western Europe to launch Klarna’s buy-now-pay-later products, and noted that Klarna also had agreements with Turkish Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa, the group that has now won the TAP sale.
“Portugal was the first market where TAP and Klarna took off together, and Portuguese travellers showed us how much they value being able to choose how they pay,” said Inês Fiúza Marques, Klarna’s country manager for Portugal, in the 13 October announcement (NorthSouth HQ translation, as for all Portuguese quotations here). “Travel is often one of the biggest expenses of the year, and we want to make paying for it more comfortable and convenient.” João Frias, TAP’s head of payment strategy and fraud prevention, said that flexible, interest-free options reinforce the airline’s commitment to “a more accessible, customer-centred travel experience”. Executive Digest says the products cover everything from short European breaks to long-haul holidays and business trips. Neither company has given figures for how many Portuguese customers have used the service since 2025.
Lufthansa’s winning offer
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced the decision on Wednesday 14 October after a Council of Ministers meeting. Lufthansa will buy 44.9 percent of TAP, rising to 49.9 percent if TAP’s workers do not take up the 5 percent reserved for them, while the state keeps 50.1 percent, Executive Digest reported. The government valued Air France-KLM’s competing offer at €1,038 million, €163 million below Lufthansa’s. Montenegro called the two offers “robust and technically very equivalent”, but said Lufthansa’s was up to 16 percent higher and carried less uncertainty. “This is the best choice for the future of the company and the one that best protects the national interest,” he said. He put TAP’s total valuation at €2,552 million if a second phase, selling a majority of the airline, goes ahead.
The government’s summary of Lufthansa’s commitments includes taking TAP’s fleet to 117 aircraft by 2035 and 130 after that, with fleet investment of €3,000 million to €4,000 million; up to eight Airbus A350-900s transferred to TAP after 2030; eight aircraft based in Porto; keeping TAP’s brand and head office in Portugal; and around €500 million of aviation investment in Portugal, including a pilot school at Tancos, an innovation centre in Aveiro and Lufthansa Technik’s maintenance project in Santa Maria da Feira. Executive Digest says the government quantifies the Santa Maria da Feira investment at about €300 million and some 700 jobs. According to CNBC, citing Reuters, TAP operated 101 aircraft to 93 destinations as of June, 52 of them in Europe, and carried a record 8.2 million passengers in the first half of 2026.
The sale is not yet done
The selection ends the buyer-choice stage, not the transaction. The sale still needs approval from the European competition authorities, and the government is aiming to close the first phase in early 2028, with a possible second phase completed by July of that year, Executive Digest reports. Air France-KLM said it was “naturally disappointed” not to be selected, according to CNBC, but would “continue to connect Portugal to the world through its hubs and bases” and would “assess all options to increase its presence in the country, as well as in the strategic South America region.”
What it means for SAS and the Nordic routes
As NorthSouth HQ reported when the final bids went in, an Air France-KLM win would have put TAP in the same group as SAS. Air France-KLM agreed in July 2025 to raise its SAS holding from 19.9 percent to 60.5 percent, with the Danish state keeping 26.4 percent. That deal has still not closed: Aviation Week reported on 9 October that regulatory approval is expected “over the coming months”, and SAS executive Mikael Wangdahl put completion at “the end of the year, or mid-next year”. SAS left Star Alliance for SkyTeam on 1 September 2024. TAP is a Star Alliance member, as is Lufthansa. With Lufthansa chosen, the Lisbon hub goes to the Star Alliance group, while SAS’s Copenhagen hub moves towards Air France-KLM and SkyTeam.
On the corridor itself, Wikipedia’s list of TAP Air Portugal destinations shows TAP serving Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm, with Gothenburg listed as a terminated route. SAS flies to Lisbon, Porto and Faro, and Norwegian has added Oslo–Lisbon. The commitments the government has published concern fleet size, Porto, the autonomous regions and Latin America; they say nothing about Nordic routes. The reporting NorthSouth HQ reviewed does not show any announced change to TAP’s Scandinavian or Finnish services, codeshares or loyalty arrangements as a result of the decision.
What to watch
There are four things to watch: the final negotiation with Lufthansa and the European Commission’s review of the TAP sale; whether Lufthansa’s network planning adds or trims Lisbon–Nordic frequencies once it has a say; completion of Air France-KLM’s SAS deal; and whether Klarna takes the TAP checkout into further markets, including its home region. For Nordic companies with people travelling between the regions, no change to TAP’s Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm routes has been announced; the practical effects of the sale will only become clear after it closes. Other Swedish companies active in Portugal are listed in the NorthSouth HQ directory of Swedish companies in Portugal.