A month after her very public firing, TAP Airline CEO remains on the job

A month after being dismissed on live television as chief executive officer of Portuguese airline TAP SA, Christine Ourmieres-Widener remains at the helm of the state-owned carrier, without any guidance from the government on how to run the company.

Portugal’s Finance Minister Fernando Medina sacked Ourmieres-Widener at a March 6 press conference broadcast on national television, following criticism about a severance payment of €500,000 ($547,000) to a departing executive board member. 

Ourmieres-Widener, a French national, was hired in 2021 to oversee the restructuring of TAP after it received more than €2 billion in government aid to survive the coronavirus pandemic. She hired a law firm to contest her ouster, and pled her case Tuesday at a parliamentary hearing.

“After one month I’m still in functions without any guidelines in a period for the company that is critical,” Ourmieres-Widener, 58, told lawmakers. “This process that was started on TV is illegal and was really not appropriate and lacking all respect for a senior executive.”

A final decision on the CEO’s fate will be made by the government, TAP’s majority owner. A spokesman for the finance ministry, which oversees the airline along with the infrastructure ministry, wasn’t immediately available to comment. 

The leadership impasse takes place as Portugal prepares to sell a stake in the airline through a privatization process. TAP, which connects the country with Brazil and Africa, sought aid after Covid worsened its already shaky finances. The airline must also prepare for the critical summer travel season, and contend with pilot unions’ threats to strike over working conditions. 

Ourmieres-Widener, who has hired Lisbon-based law firm Vasconcelos, Arruda & Associados to contest her dismissal, says that it’s been difficult to lead a company that is under so much political and media pressure. Under her watch, TAP posted net income of €65.6 million in 2022, its first annual profit since 2017.

“It’s not easy to navigate with all the noise around the company,” said Ourmieres-Widener, the first female CEO in TAP’s 78-year history. Asked by a lawmaker when she expected to leave the company, Ourmieres-Widener replied: “I don’t know.”

Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and other critics took issue with the size of the severance payment to former board member Alexandra Reis, who has been ordered to return the money to TAP after an inspection carried out by the finance ministry found that she had no right to such compensation under the rules for public officials.

The government plans to appoint Luis Rodrigues, a former CEO of Portuguese regional airline SATA, to take over as chairman and CEO. Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on March 22 that TAP’s formal privatization process would start “very soon,” without giving details.