Lufthansa met with Beja in 2025 to evaluate pilot school

Uma entourage of Lufthansa, the winning company of the privatization of TAP, met in 2025 with the House of Beja to evaluate the possibility of installing a school of pilots in the city, indicated the former president of the municipality.

The revelation was made by the now alderman of PS Paulo Arsenio, who led the House of Beja between 2017 and 2025, after the announcement of the Government, on 14th, that Lufthansa's proposal for the acquisition of 44.9% of TAP's capital includes an investment of 500 million euros in a new pilot school in Tancos, Santarém district.

In a note published on his personal Facebook page, consulted by the Lusa agency, Paulo Arsenio revealed that he received, on 18 June 2025, a “very particular email”, signed by Maximilian Kiewel, responsible for Lufthansa’s Defense and Relations Policy with NATO.

According to Paulo Arsenio, Kiewel indicated in the message “that Beja was a solution of excellence for a new generation German Air Force pilot school (now formed by Lufthansa), as well as NATO”.

The leader of Lufthansa, the socialist added, also said “that he believed that the project would be, in the medium and long term, a tremendous added value to Beja [...], notably with the possibility of creating many new jobs”.

Almost a month later, on July 16, 2025, a Lufthansa entourage, led precisely by Maximilian Kiewel, was received at the Beja Chamber, where it announced that it intended to install in Portugal a school of pilots or, “in practice”, two.

“ One for training NATO military pilots, which would start with German pilots at an early stage, and which would progressively be understood as pilots from various countries,” and, on the other hand, “a smaller school for Lufthansa pilot training,” wrote Paulo Arsenio.

According to the former mayor, “Lufthansa came as a courtesy to inform us that Beja was a strong possibility to install these valences”.

For this reason, Paulo Arsenio has now expressed himself “surprised” with the choice of Tancos to welcome the new school of Lufthansa pilots in Portugal, although he acknowledges that pilot schools are not allowed in Air Base 11, Beja.

“ However, this ‘pilot school’, if it had been installed in Beja, would have been totally different from the others’, because “it would be a school dedicated, in the first place, to the training of military pilots” and then “it would cover the NATO universe”, he argued.

In the note he published on social networks, Paulo Arsenio considered “it important to know who made the decision of Tancos in “favor” of Beja and with what arguments”.

“ When I met with the Lufthansa Group and those responsible for this investment, I clearly realized that your preference for this school was in Beja. Something happened, therefore, between July 2025 and October 2026 ", stressed the former president.

The investment of EUR 500 million in a new pilot school in Tancos, in the context of the privatisation of TAP, was also questioned last week by the Intermunicipal Community of the Lower Alentejo (CIMBAL).

“ The government’s option is another strong disregard for the Baixo Alentejo and, of course, another contribution to devalue strategically and clearly Beja Airport,” President António José Brito told Lusa.

Also the deputy of Aquida by Beja, António Carneiro, criticized the choice of Tancos to host a school of pilots to the detriment of the region, considering it is “a decision that deserves a serious explanation to the inhabitants of the district”.

In turn, the deputy of the PSD elected by Beja, Gonçalo Valente, helped that the permanent use of the airspace in Beja by the Portuguese Air Force was not “compatible with the use of the aerodrome for the training of high intensity pilots, by a company such as Lufhtansa Tecnics”.