Brazil continues to play a special role in intercontinental strategy of TAP Air Portugal. The company has just announced that it is taking over its flights between Lisbon and Manausthe capital of the state of Amazonia. The route had previously been operated from 2014 to 2016.
TAP Air Portugal to operate three weekly flights with a stopover in Belém on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The first flight is scheduled for 4 November.
With the return of this flight, the company will consolidate its presence in 13 of Brazil's regional capitals. It proposes 95 flights a week on 15 routes (13 to Lisbon and two to Porto). This represents 13 daily frequenciesa record from Europe. However, flights to Porto Alegre remain temporarily suspended.
Slightly lower load factor in South America
For Luís Rodrigues, CEO of TAP, " lrazil is a strategic country for TAP. The return of our flight to Manaus is another sign that we are continuing to capitalise on the development of our activities in this country. We recently launched a new route to Florianópolis. We will end the year with at least 15 routes to Brazila record" .
He continued: " Our aim is to attract more and more tourists to Brazil, not just from Portugal, but from all the countries served by TAP. We want to continue to be the leading international airline in Brazil. " .
To South America, the airline has added a number of frequencies for the summer season. It offers one extra flight a week to Belém, Brasília, Natal/Maceio, Salvador and São Paulo. Fortaleza and Rio benefits from two extra flights a week. While Recife saw a near doubling of its frequenciesfrom 6 to 13 flights a week.
Finally, TAP Air Portugal has launched three flights a week for the summer season between Lisbon and Caracas in Venezuela.
This increase in seat capacity is reflected in the financial results for the first half of 2024. According to the financial statement capacity in seats/km on South America shows an increase of 9% between the first half of 2023 and 2024. Nevertheless, economic performance has deteriorated: average unit revenue is down by 3% from one half-year to the next. While the load factor remains high at 83%, it is still down by 1.1 points.
