In the summer of 2022, TAP Air Portugal registered half a million customers flying between Brazil and Europe, fueling a solid recovery after two years of COVID-19 problems.
Traffic levels at TAP Air Portugal return to pre-pandemic levels
TAP Air Portugal said in a statement that it flew 97% of all customers between Brazil and Europe between January and September 2022.
In the first few months of this year, the Portuguese flag carrier has flown more than one million passengers between Portugal and Brazil. The TAP Air country manager for the UK & Ireland said the airline is pleased to be the customer’s first choice for flights between Europe and Brazil “because of our unique route network, which enables easy connections at our Lisbon hub.”
With highly competitive fares and a fantastic onboard offering for business and leisure travelers, we have put ourselves well ahead of our competitors.
As of November 2022, TAP Air Portugal operates 73 weekly flights between Portugal and Brazil. TAP’s popular Brazilian destinations have generated high load factors, which are expected to return to 2019 levels in 2023. In September 2022, TAP flew 1,318 flights to and from Brazil, flying 97% of the total number of all customers flown in 2019 between Brazil and Europe.
In two routes, TAP still offers fewer flights and seats compared to 2019. These are Lisbon-Brasília and Porto-São Paulo (both with one fewer flight).
These routes were served by planes
In accordance with Cirium data, TAP Air Portugal uses three types of aircraft to fly to Brazil. These routes are Lisbon-Belém and Lisbon-Natal. These Brazilian cities are close to Europe, so TAP can use its narrowbody fleet. TAP Air employs its Airbus A330-200 and A330-900 aircraft on the other routes.
With ten Airbus A321neo (LR) planes, TAP has 171 seats in a three-class configuration, with 125 economy seats, 30 economy plus seats, and 16 business seats. It has three A330-200s with capacity for 269 passengers (244 in economy, 25 in business). Finally, TAP owns 19 A330-900s (one of the largest fleets of this type in the world). This plane can accommodate 298 passengers (168 in economy, 96 in economy plus, and 34 in business).
Traffic levels in Brazil
According to data published recently by Brazilian civil aviation authorities, Brazil had 78.01 million travelers between January and October. In the first ten months of the year, TAP Air Portugal carried 1.29 million passengers, ranking fourth among South American carriers.
With 23.7 million, 22.58 million, and 21.96 million passengers respectively, LATAM Airlines, Azul Linhas Aéreas, and GOL Linhas Aéreas hold approximately 30% of Brazil’s market share.
LATAM carries the most international passengers, with 2.52 million, followed by TAP Portugal with 1.29 million and Copa Airlines with 787,654.