TAP Air Portugal is the flag carrier of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its airline hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and operates on average 2,500 flights a week to 90 destinations in 34 countries worldwide. As of May 2019 the company has a fleet of 100 aircraft, all of which are manufactured by Airbus with the exception of 19 aircraft manufactured by Embraer, operating on behalf of the regional airline TAP Express.
The airline was established on 14 March 1945 and began commercial services on 19 September 1946. Having been founded as a national institution, the airline was privatisation for the first time in its history during 1953. Throughout its existence, TAP has alternated between public and private ownership.
In 1965, it bought its first Boeing-built jetliner, the 707. In 1967, the airline became the first in Europe to exclusively operate jets. In 1979, the airline underwent a modernisation programme, changing its name to TAP Air Portugal. By the end of the decade, the airline operated a fleet of 32 modern airliners that served in excess of 40 destinations on four continents. During the 1980s, the fleet of Boeing 707s and 747s was replaced with Lockheed L-1011 TriStars and Airbus A310s on long-haul routes. In 1983, TAP started operating its first Boeing 737-200s on short-haul routes. By the late 1990s, TAP had sold its Boeing 727s and 737s, replacing them with Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Its Lockheed L-1011 TriStars were also replaced by Airbus A340s. These changes led to TAP becoming an Airbus-only operator and exclusive customer of the European aircraft manufacturer ever since.
In 2022, the Portuguese government has unveiled plans to reprivatise the airline.[1] Portuguese Government to Sell TAP Portugal, Aviation Source News, Jamie Clarke, Retrieved 15.11.2022. The Portuguese Court of Audits has been highly critical of the public intervention on behalf of TAP.[2] Portuguese Court of Audits Assessments on the State's General Account of 2021, Portuguese Court of Audits, Retrieved 06.10.2022, in Portuguese. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced 'historic' enforcement actions against six airlines, including TAP: $126.5 million in required refunds paid and a $1.1 million penalty, 'for extreme delays in providing refunds'.[3] More Than $600 Million in Refunds Returned to Airline Passengers Under DOT Rules Backed by New Enforcement Actions Issued Today, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Retrieved 15.11.2022.
In 1947, the airline launched its first domestic services, commencing a route between Lisbon and Porto, as well as another international route between São Tomé and London. That same year, a total of four Douglas DC-4 Skymasters were purchased; these reportedly remained in the airline's service as late as 1960. These were used on the routes to Africa and to major European destinations, including London. During 1948, new services to Seville and Paris were launched.
During 1955, the airline broke new ground with a successful long-distance experimental transatlantic trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On this flight, as a passenger, was the Portuguese aviator and cartographer Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho. By the end of the decade, the firm had attained several milestones, including the carriage of 64,000 passengers, its fleet performing 10,000 hours of flight, a route network spanning 14,000 km, while also employing over 1,000 members of staff.
Beginning in 1960, TAP launched Rio de Janeiro as its first destination in Brazil, in a jointly-operated air service named "Voo da Amizade" ("Friendship Flight") with Panair do Brasil (1960–1965) and Varig (1965–1967). A route from Lisbon to Goa, a 19-hour flight with five stopovers, was added to the network during 1961.
On 19 June 1964, the one-millionth passenger was carried by the airline, broadly 18 years following the commencement of operations. During the following year, TAP procured its first Boeing-built jetliner, the 707. Two years later, it would be followed by the short-haul Boeing 727. On 17 June 1966, TAP operated its first sole flight to Brazil, one of its 707s landed at Galeão Airport in Rio de Janeiro at precisely at the same time and on the same day as when the hydroplane Santa Cruz moored in Guanabara Bay in 1922, when Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho made their historic South Atlantic crossing. The route to Brazil was inaugurated.
In 1967, the airline achieved a milestone: it became the first European airline to fly exclusively with jets. In 1969, service to New York City via Santa Maria Island began; two years later, Boston was added to the New York service. During 1971, the airline opted to relocate its headquarters to Lisbon Airport. In the following year, TAP received the first of an initial batch of four Boeing 747-200s. In 1974, it became the first European airline to perform complete overhauls of the Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engine, which powered early versions of the Boeing 747 amongst other aircraft. By the end of the decade, the airline operated a fleet of 32 modern airliners that served in excess of 40 destinations on four continents.
In 1974, TAP introduced a new computerised system handling reservations, load control, and check-in, known as Tapmatic. By the end of 1974, TAP had carried more than 1.5 million passengers, flown 68,210 hours over a network of almost 103,000 kilometres and had a staff of over 9,000.
Following the independence of both Angola and Mozambique, the importance of the African market decreased tremendously; due to decreasing passenger demand, two of the 747s were sold on during 1976. During 1979, the airline launched a modernisation programme; amongst other brand changes, its name changed to TAP Air Portugal, which was deemed to be easier for international customers to recognise.
During the 1980s, the fleet of Boeing 707s and 747s was replaced with Lockheed L-1011 TriStars and Airbus A310s on long-haul routes. During 1983, TAP started operating its first Boeing 737-200s on short-haul routes. In 1988, it launched a new fare-calculation and ticketing system. That same year, it also became the first airline to harness land-to-air datalinks via a satellite connection.
During 1985, TAP established its charter subsidiary Air Atlantis, providing leisure flights to most European cities, which operated Boeing 707, Boeing 727 and Boeing 737 jetliners.
During 1991, the airline reportedly carried three million passengers that year for the first time. In 1993, TAP began flying to Tel Aviv. In 1994, TAP signed for a code sharing arrangement with Delta Air Lines for North Atlantic service; this agreement came to an end during 2005. 1996 saw the introduction of service to Boston via Terceira Island, the inauguration of service to Macau and the launch of TAP's website. In 1997, service began to Punta Cana and Bangkok; however, flights to Bangkok and Macau were discontinued during the following year.
By the late 1990s, TAP had expanded its fleet by selling its older Boeing 727s and Boeing 737s and replacing them with Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Its TriStars were sold to Air Luxor and were replaced with Airbus A340s beginning in 1995. These changes led to TAP becoming an Airbus-only operator, which it claimed to have also made its fleet more economical and versatile. Furthermore, the airline had initiated a program of continuous cabin modernisation and renewal with the aim of implementing ever greater levels of service. In 1999, TAP introduced its first Blue Flights, upon which smoking was banned.
In 1997, a strategic alliance was formed between TAP and Swissair. Within the scope of this agreement, a team of professional managers arrived at TAP, led by the Brazilian Fernando Pinto. Part of the agreement would lead to Swissair buying a 34% stake of TAP. Also, TAP became a member of Qualiflyer, the frequent-flyer program led by the Swiss flag carrier. Due to financial difficulties, the Swiss company ended up not buying the agreed shares of TAP Air Portugal, unilaterally revoking the partnership agreement which led to unexpected costs for the Portuguese airline in 2000. This revocation culminated in legal action being taken by TAP against Swissair.
In 2006, TAP Air Portugal signed a deal with Espírito Santo International to buy 99.81% of Portugália, a Portuguese regional airline. It also started a code-sharing with US Airways on all routes between Portugal and the United States with connecting services out of Newark and Philadelphia.
In 2007, NATO named TAP Air Portugal the Best Engine/Aircraft Source of Repair for NATO's AWACS Maintenance Program. TAP Air Portugal has complete maintenance and overhaul bases in Portugal (Lisbon) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre) and has specialised line maintenance stations in three continents: 4 in Portugal, 8 in Brazil, and 1 in Angola. It started scheduled flights to Moscow, Warsaw and Helsinki, in June 2009. Easier Travel: TAP flies to Warsaw, Moscow & Helsinki retrieved 8 December 2008
After deciding to outsource its Passenger Service System in 2008, TAP migrated its reservation and inventory systems to the Altéa system managed by Amadeus. Before the migration, TAP had been using a system derived from Delta Air Lines called Tapmatic, in use since 1972.
In 2010, TAP introduced two new routes to Africa: Marrakesh and Algiers, the latter was discontinued in 2017. The launch of these new routes highlighted the airline's growth strategy for Africa, an important segment in the network where the airline has continually expanded since 2001, going from 236,000 to 541,000 passengers, an increase of more than 129%. In 2011, new long range routes to both Miami and Porto Alegre were introduced.
On 21 March 2014, the airline announced it would purchase two ATR 42-600s for subsidiary Portugália, replacing the smaller Beechcraft 1900D previously operated by PGA Express.
The Portuguese government planned to sell its controlling stake in the flag carrier to one or more large investors in a relaunch of the privatisation in 2014. It intended to sell a 66% stake in the airline, with 5% of that set aside for its 7,500 staff. Among known bidders were South American businessman German Efromovich, whose 2012 bid for TAP failed to meet the initial conditions; a consortium formed by American businessman Frank Lorenzo and Portuguese entrepreneur Miguel Pais do Amaral; the American Brazilian businessman David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue in the United States and Azul in Brazil; and finally Globalia, the parent company of Air Europa.
In May 2015, a pilot Strike action lasting over a week led to the cancellation of around 3,000 TAP Air Portugal flights.
In June 2015, the Portuguese government decided to sell the TAP Air Portugal Group, owner of TAP Air Portugal, to the Atlantic Gateway consortium formed by partners David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa, who took control of 61% of the capital of the flag carrier. On the memorandum signed by the new owner, TAP Air Portugal had to keep Portugal as the airline's main hub for a minimum of 30 years. The consortium that secured the company's privatisation in June 2015 promised to buy 53 new Airbus aircraft for the airline; new orders included 14 wide-body A330s and 39 narrow-body A320-family aircraft.
On 14 January 2016, TAP Air Portugal announced that subsidiary Portugália Airlines would be rebranded TAP Express by 27 March 2016, as part of further restructuring measures within the group. That same day, it announced that the entire Portugália fleet would be replaced with new aircraft by July 2016, receiving a livery similar to TAP Air Portugal's. atwonline.com TAP Portugal creates TAP Express to replace Portugalia 15 Januar 2016 A downsizing of the carrier network also took place that month, with TAP announcing the end of long-haul flights to Panama City, Manaus and Bogotá as well as European connections to Hanover and Zagreb. air-journal.fr Portugal : TAP Express remplace Portugalia (French) 14 January 2016
TAP Air Portugal planned to promote Portugal as a tourism destination in the United States, and Lisbon as a gateway into Europe for North American travellers, and in February 2016 announced the return of JFK airport and Boston's Logan International as daily non-stop destinations from Lisbon. The Boston service started on 11 June and the new JFK daily flights on 1 July, both operated with new Airbus A330-200s received in June of the same year from Azul Brazilian Airlines. These two new routes reinforced the airline's presence in the American market, along with service to Miami from Lisbon and Newark from Lisbon and Porto. Taken together, the amount of TAP Air Portugal flights to the US grew to 30 per week. TAP Portugal to introduce daily non-stops to Lisbon on new A330 aircraft from New York's JFK and Boston Logan Airports (English) 25 February 2016
TAP expanded its network in 2017, adding 10 routes, some of which were previously operated by the airline: Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Alicante and Las Palmas, Spain; Bucharest, Romania; Budapest, Hungary; Cologne and Stuttgart, Germany; Fez, Morocco; Lomé, Togo; London City Airport, United Kingdom and Toronto, Canada.
In March 2017, Miguel Antunes Frasquilho, president and CEO of AICEP Portugal Global, was selected to be TAP Air Portugal's new chairman of the board.
On 14 September 2017, TAP Portugal was renamed TAP Air Portugal, going back to the name used between 1979 and 2005.
In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 Crisis, the European Commission approved the Portuguese government's plan to bail out the flag carrier, paving the way for the first tranche of €1.2 billion ($1.36 billion) government loan to help it through the crisis and a restructuring plan including employee downsizing and sale of aircraft.Aviação
On 14 November 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced historic enforcement actions against six airlines, including TAP, $126.5 million in required refunds paid and a $1.1 million penalty, 'for extreme delays in providing refunds.' The Department expects to issue additional orders assessing civil penalties for consumer protection violations this calendar year.
In October 2022 the Portuguese Court of Audits again highly criticised the taxpayers' injection of money into TAP stating in its Assessment on the General State Account for 2021 that it should have been accounted as an effective expense and not as a financial asset: 'the classification of financial assets, with no expression in actual expenditure but with a significant impact on debt, which essentially seek to pursue social and public policy objectives and are not intended to produce a financial return'. Thus considering it an unprofitable public investment, with sovereign debt risk association for the State and consequently menacing taxpayers' legitimate interests.[11] Portuguese Court of Audits considers injection on TAP not to produce financial profit, ECO, in Portuguese, Retrieved 06.10.2022.
Former Portuguese Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos resigned on 29 December 2022 after a backlash over news of a half million euros severance payment to former TAP executive Alexandra Reis, then Treasury Secretary of State, who resigned a day before from government.[12] Portugal's infrastructure minister quits over TAP controversy, EU Reporter Correspondent, EUReporter.co, 30.12.2022. On 6 March 2023, the Portuguese government fired the airline's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman after a damaging report from the Portuguese General Inspectorate of Finances.[13] COMMUNICATION FROM THE MINISTER OF FINANCE ON THE IGF ASSESSMENT ON THE PROCESS OF TERMINATION OF TAP GROUP DIRECTOR'S DUTIES, March 6, 2023, portugal.gov.pt, in Portuguese.
On 28 February 2025, during French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Portugal, Air France-KLM announced that it will bid for a 49% stake in TAP. Lufthansa and IAG are also bidding. Lufthansa confirmed its participation on 20 November.
Until the end of 2016, TAP Air Portugal had a 51% stake in Lojas Francas de Portugal (LFP), a retail joint-venture created in 1995 between the flag carrier and Dufry. LFP is present in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Madeira and Azores, with over 30 stores, and is also present on board of TAP Air Portugal with its "On Air" shopping magazine. Its stake in the company was sold to Vinci SA, the owner of ANA Aeroportos de Portugal.
TAP Cargo also operates Lisbon-Luanda all-cargo non-regular flights, in an Avient Aviation DC-10F, a Girjet 747-200F, and other leased aircraft.
In 2005, TAP unveiled its current logo and livery, to coincide with its Star Alliance membership, during the airline's 60th anniversary. It also saw the name change from TAP Air Portugal, introduced in the 1970s, to TAP Portugal. On 14 September 2017, TAP returned to its previous name. The first logo dates back to 1945 when the airline was founded. It consisted of a blue wing with the acronym TAP written to its left.
In 2010, TAP Air Portugal was awarded the "World's Best Airline Award" by British Condé Nast Traveler magazine, after being rated for its excellence in previous years, and was rated as the "Best Airline to South America" by the World Travel Awards in 2009 and 2010, with nominations for "Europe's Leading Airline" and "Europe's Leading Business Class" in 2007, 2009 and 2010. World Travel Awards: TAP Portugal retrieved 24 December 2011 TAP Air Portugal has also consistently achieved high ranks and various awards from specializ]sed air travel publications such as Skytrax and Publituris due to the company's excellence in service and performance. In recent years, TAP Air Portugal has been consecutively elected World's Leading Airline to Africa and South America by the World Travel Awards (WTA), considered the "Oscars" of the world travel industry. Tap Portugal. TAP Portugal (12 January 2012). Retrieved on 20 August 2013.
In the December 2017/January 2018 edition of the magazine Monocles Travel Top 50, an annual list, selected by the magazine's editors, awarded Portugal's TAP airline the accolade of "most handsome crew".
TAP Air Portugal is the leading European airline flying to Brazil, offering more destinations from its hub in Lisbon than any other European airline. Many Europeans transit through Portugal to fly to Brazil due to a large number of TAP holds in the South American country.
In March 2016, TAP Air Portugal began an air shuttle service, designated "Ponte Aérea", to connect Lisbon and Porto's airports with flights every hour adding up to 18 round-trip flights. It is operated by White Airways on behalf of the regional brand Portugália.
As of 2019, TAP Air Portugal will launch 15 new routes as well as receive 15 new aircraft.
TAP's in-flight magazine is named UP and is available on board, as a fully responsive website (compatible with desktops, smart phones and tablets), and as a freely downloadable application for Apple's iPad.
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Intended reprivatisation
Corporate affairs and identity
Business trends
Headquarters
Subsidiaries
TAP Cargo
Branding and identity
Museum
Awards
Destinations
Codeshare agreements
Fleet
Current fleet
+ TAP Air Portugal fleet Airbus A319-100 3 — — — 144 144 Airbus A320-200 15 — — — 174 174 Airbus A320neo 14 14 — — 174 174 Airbus Orders and Deliveries (XLS), monthly updated, accessed via Airbus A321-200 3 — — — 216 216 Airbus A321LR 13 — 16 42 113 171 Airbus A321neo 24 8 16 — 182 198 — 216 216 221 221 Airbus A330-200 3 — 25 — 244 269 19 2 34 96 168 298 Launch customer.
Fleet development
Historic fleet
Services
Lounges
Cabins
Airspace by Airbus
Frequent-flyer program
The programme does have a feature whereby some of the miles can be converted from regular award miles.
Accidents and incidents
for yearly reports in PDF. 14 22083 Hamburg Germany, Retrieved 10.09.2022.]
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
External links
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