TThe topic was one of the most important points in a hearing of CEO Antonoaldo Neves who told reporters it was the regulator’s job in some matters to define limits and “it is up to the operator to decide whether to operate at that limit or at another limit that is slightly lower”.
Speaking to reporters after more than three hours in the Economy, Innovation and Public Works Committee, he said that even if the wind speed limits were raised at Madeira, TAP would not follow suit because it had studied the matter.
“Others may come to different conclusions than TAP, but TAP has its operating standards, it has its safety standards, which I have reviewed with the specialists and we believe they are perfectly adequate, including for the new plane - A320 neo- that recently landed in Madeira to test the wind limits”, he added.
In related news, Chinese conglomerate HNA, which owns a stake in Portugal’s flag carrier TAP Air Portugal through the Atlantic Gateway consortium, has failed in paying a debt worth over €37 million amid liquidity issues, a Chinese investment fund revealed.
The default comes despite the group having sold more than €15 billion in assets this year to stave off the liquidity crunch.
Last month the aviation-to-hotels conglomerate also began to miss payments to individual investors through online direct P2P financing platforms. The company also almost failed another loan worth €124 million.
HNA’s debt stood at €77 billion at the end of last year, according to the company’s annual financial report.
The company has a stake in the private consortium Atlantic Gateway, which holds 45% of TAP. The Portuguese government retains a 50% stake in TAP, with the remaining 5% being in the hands of its employees.
China’s Capital Airlines, one of HNA’s subsidiaries, in July 2017 launched the first direct flight between China and Portugal. However, shortly after a year, the company announced the flight would be suspended between October and March.
HNA, which has shares in firms including Hilton Hotels, Swissport and Deutsche Bank, is already under the supervision of a group of bank creditors, led by the China Development Bank.