Pedro Nuno Santos moved to the Infrastructure portfolio in February 2019 following a government reshuffle that removed the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio and gave him a major ministry. He had issues such as CP and TAP that needed to be addressed, in addition to a critical housing issue.

Soon there was talk of a poisoned gift. Pedro Nuno Santos wanted to become a minister, has the ambition of a leader in PS and is known for his drive to achieve. For this reason, the politician from Aveiro seized on the portfolio offered to him, already with the motivation of increasing the weight of the state in TAP, who had an interlocutor through private partners David Nileman and Humberto Pedrosa. The private ones eventually left. The state now owns all TAP. But between cases and cases, Pedro Nuno Santos ensured that TAP would not become TAPzinha in the restructuring process. He recently said that the goals are being met and that there may even be good surprises with TAP’s finances, but Pedro Nuno is leaving the ministry before the plan is completed. As David Neeleman once said, “Governments come and go, but TAR goes on.”

TAP Awards

When he takes over the infrastructure portfolio, Pedro Nuno Santos gets TAP, in which the state owns 50% and bears the losses. However, the carrier paid bonuses of 1.171 million euros to 180 employees, who lost 118 million euros for the year.