Portuguese prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho has urged aviation giant Lufthansa to consider purchasing TAP Portugal.

The award winning flag-carrier is mooted for privitisation as the Iberian country continues to battle spiraling budget deficits.

TAP is considered a prize assets, having been recognised by the World Travel Awards as the World’s Leading Airline to South America in 2010.

“Lufthansa would be very well advised if it would develop the market in South America and Africa together with the Portuguese airline TAP,” Coelho was quoted as saying to Handelsblatt newspaper.

“I could imagine Lufthansa is following our privatisation programme attentively in which Tap, too, is being privatised.

“Surely that would be a good investment for a German company,” he added.

TAP had previously been suggested as a possible future acquisition for International Airlines Group (IAG), which was created following the merger of British Airways and Iberia in 2010.