There's an old Portuguese proverb: "It's better to be a queen for an hour than a duchess for a lifetime". Perhaps this is what the directors of TAP Portugal were reminded of when, on 8 November, they were awarded the title of "Leading airline to South America" at the World Travel Awards in London.
Long regarded as a 'secondary airline' in European skies, TAP is now taking its place at the top and reaping the rewards of its efforts to build a long-haul network from the Lisbon hub. With the Portuguese-speaking world in the spotlight, Brazil is also in the spotlight. "Rio, Sao Paulo, Recife, Salvador de Bahia, Natal, Fortaleza, Brasilia and Belo Horizonte: with eight destinations and 65 flights a week to Brazil, our offer is unrivalled among European airlines", says TAP. As a bonus, the benefits of a network designed to meet the expectations of European customers as closely as possible: "To the Nordeste, for example, the journey time is at least six hours shorter than that offered by the competition, which transits via Sao Paulo, with fairly long connection times. In contrast, all our European flights to Lisbon are connected with our long-haul flights, and the transit time is no more than an hour. This advantage has enabled the airline to gain market share in France, from Paris, but especially from Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Toulon, where passengers have no connection anyway.
