TAP: reasons to be cheerful

Few people would want Michael Conolly’s job. As the chief financial officer of Portugal’s state-owned carrier TAP, he faces all the problems his airline peers are struggling with, plus a few that are specific to his own company.

In particular, TAP counts Brazil and Venezuela among its major routes, and they are not the most economically stable of countries. On top of that, in the midst of tough competition among European airlines, TAP planned to secure its future by linking up with another operator.