TAP Portugal (Lisbon) and its proposed privatization has garnered the attention of more than three interested parties all of whom have already submitted Expressions of Interest to TAP's owner, the Portuguese government.

Minister of the Economy, António Pires de Lima, told local media earlier this week that TAP's stalled privatization process could resume in the coming weeks but warned it would not likely be completed this year as previously hoped.

"We have seen in the last month, not one, not two, not three, but more than three Expressions Of Interest (EOI) in either the total or partial privatization [of TAP]. What Government should do is use the opportunity to move forward in this process," he told state-broadcaster RTP.

In and among the EOIs was a non-binding proposal submitted by Miguel Pais do Amaral in partnership with American airline entrepreneur of Continental Airlines (Houston Intercontinental) and Eastern Air Lines (1926) (New York JFK) fame, Frank Lorenzo, the Diário Económico reported last week.

Lisbon's first attempt at privatizing TAP in late 2012 failed after sole bidder, Brazil's Synergy Aerospace, failed to provide the requisite financial guarantees. The Avianca (Bogotá) parent had bid EUR35million (USD46.5million) for TAP, and was to have invested EUR316million in the company while taking on its estimated EUR1.2billion debt.