Lufthansa Technik has started construction on a 55,000-square-metre maintenance facility in Santa Maria da Feira, south of Porto, in a move that extends Lufthansa Group’s industrial presence in Portugal while the country’s flag carrier, TAP Air Portugal, remains the subject of a privatisation process.
The company held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday for the site, which will be operated by Lufthansa Technik Portugal, a subsidiary created in 2024. Expected to create up to 700 aviation jobs over the coming years, the project represents a three-digit million-euro investment, according to Lufthansa Technik.
Focusing on the repair of engine parts and aircraft components, operations are scheduled to begin in 2028, but the investment goes beyond this single facility, eventually encompassing a new TravelTech and AI Hub in Northern Portugal and a new Portuguese “help alliance” or Associação. It is the first time such an organisation has been founded outside of Germany in Europe, an event that the Group says underscores its social commitment in the Portuguese market.
Lufthansa’s engagement in Portugal is, it says, “multi-dimensional.” Seven Group airline brands (Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Edelweiss, Eurowings and Discover Airlines) operate 353 weekly flights to Portuguese destinations across Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Madeira, and the Azores. With more than 500 employees already working across Portugal, and an ambition to create over 1,000 direct jobs in the years ahead, the Lufthansa Group is establishing one of its most significant bases beyond German borders.
The ceremony was attended by Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, Lufthansa Group chief executive Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa Technik chief operating officer Harald Gloy, chair and chief executive of the trade and investment agency AICEP Madalena Oliveira e Silva, and local officials. During the event, Lufthansa Technik Portugal and AICEP, Portugal’s trade and investment agency, signed a final agreement covering investment incentives for economic development.
That understanding comes as Lufthansa pursues a potential role in the future ownership of TAP Air Portugal. After IAG, which wanted full control, dropped out of the running, Portugal asked Lufthansa and Air France-KLM to submit binding bids by the end of July for a 44.9% stake in TAP, with a further 5% reserved for employees. The Portuguese government has described the initial proposals from the two airline groups as broadly comparable across strategic, industrial, and financial criteria.
Speaking to the press, Spohr has described Lufthansa’s interest in TAP as “very strong,” and the Santa Maria da Feira investment as “a visible and powerful symbol of what the Lufthansa Group stands for in Portugal: a reliable, long-term industrial partner” of more than 70 years.
TAP’s Lisbon hub is considered a strategic asset because of its routes to Brazil, Portuguese-speaking African markets, and the United States. Lufthansa has previously expanded through stakes or ownership in European carriers including SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and ITA Airways.
For Portugal’s travel sector, the Santa Maria da Feira project adds an aviation maintenance component to the country’s existing role as a leisure and business destination. If completed on schedule, the facility will bring technical capacity near Porto at a time when European airline groups are competing for network reach, maintenance capability, and access to long-haul markets.
