TAP Air Portugal is the second-largest operator between Europe and South America this June-September, based on analyzing Cirium data. It is behind only Iberia. TAP serves 12 destinations in the continent using its own metal.
TAP to South America
Portugal’s flag carrier typically has 83 weekly non-stop departures to South America in the examined four months. Some 92% of flights are by widebodies, while just 7% are by its A321LRs narrowbodies.
Of widebodies, TAP’s Airbus A330-900neo (hereafter called the A330neo) is obviously by far the most used type to South America, but its A330-200s are deployed too. And then there are its wet-leased aircraft:
- 767-300ER from EuroAtlantic (an example shown below), to operate between one and three weekly Lisbon-Natal flights, starting on July 4th and ending on September 29th
- 777-200ER from EuroAtlantic, also to operate Lisbon-Natal, but with just 14 roundtrips from July 6th to 27th
- A330-300 from Wamos Air, switching from operating Lisbon-Recife, which ends on June 30th, to a six-weekly Lisbon-Salvador service from July 1st to September 30th
Click here for Lisbon-Salvador flights.
Photo: Markus Mainka I Shutterstock.
14 South American routes
TAP’s network is as follows. The only non-Brazilian destination is the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to which regular flights returned in June 2022.
|
Routing |
June-September one-way flights |
Aircraft (ordered by flights) |
|---|---|---|
|
Lisbon to São Paulo |
Up to 20 weekly |
A330neo |
|
Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro |
10 weekly |
A330neo |
|
Lisbon to Recife |
Daily |
A330neo, A330-200, A330-300* |
|
Lisbon to Fortaleza |
Daily |
A330neo, A330-200 |
|
Lisbon to Belo Horizonte |
Daily |
A330neo |
|
Lisbon to Salvador |
Six weekly |
A330-300*, A330neo, A330-200 |
|
Lisbon to Brasília |
Six weekly |
A330neo |
|
Lisbon to Natal |
Five weekly |
A321LR, 767-300ER*, 777-200ER* |
|
Lisbon to Belém |
Four weekly |
A321LR |
|
Porto to São Paulo |
Three weekly |
A330neo |
|
Lisbon to Caracas |
Three weekly |
A330neo |
|
Lisbon to Porto Alegre |
Three weekly |
A330neo |
|
Lisbon to Maceió (via Natal) |
Twice-weekly |
A321LR |
|
Porto to Rio de Janeiro |
Twice-weekly |
A330neo |
|
* Wet-leased |
TAP to Caracas
In 2019, TAP had 53,758 roundtrip seats available for sale to/from Caracas. Booking data suggests it carried approximately 49,555 passengers for a seat load factor of about 92%. Around nine in ten passengers transited Lisbon to other places.
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According to booking data, Caracas via Lisbon to Funchal, Madeira, had more passengers than anywhere else. It was followed by Porto, Rome Fiumicino, Barcelona, Madrid, London Heathrow, Paris Orly, Amsterdam, Milan Malpensa, and Frankfurt.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock.
Why Madeira? The island has had a Venezuelan population for years, but it became a refuge for those of Portuguese ancestry during Venezuela’s economic and social crisis.
Historically, TAP routed Lisbon-Funchal-Caracas for many years, variously using A310-300s and A330-200s. Venezuela’s defunct SBA Airlines served Madeira too.
In recent years, TAP’s South American network also included Manaus (until February 2016), Bogotá (until March 2016), and Campinas (until May 2016). Where would you like TAP to add next?
