An official source from the German group told Lusa, “We submitted a non-binding proposal for TAP Air Portugal.”

Earlier this week, Lufthansa reiterated its intention to stay in the running for the sale of up to 44.9% of TAP's capital. Of this, 5% is reserved for employees, while any unsubscribed stake is subject to the future buyer's right of first refusal.

Lufthansa's official confirmation of submitting the proposal to Parpública, the state-owned company responsible for managing state holdings, follows that of Air France-KLM, which announced earlier this morning that it had made an offer.

This positioning by the two groups comes at a time when doubts persist about IAG's position, owner of Iberia and British Airways.

Last week, after Bloomberg reported that IAG might not proceed with a proposal, an official source from the group said only that, under the process, they had until today to make a decision.