| TAP Portugal | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| IATA TP |
ICAO TAP |
Callsign AIR PORTUGAL |
| Founded | 1945 | |
| Hubs | Portela Airport Lisbon LIS | |
| Focus cities | Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport Porto OPO, Madeira Airport Madeira FNC | |
| Frequent flyer program | Victoria | |
| Member lounge | Top Executive Lounge | |
| Alliance | Star Alliance | |
| Fleet size | 53 (69 with Portugalia) | |
| Destinations | 65 | |
| Parent company | TAP Portugal | |
| Company slogan | Fly higher. (Voa mais alto.) | |
| Headquarters | Lisbon, Portugal | |
| Key people | Fernando Pinto (CEO) | |
| Website: http://www.flytap.com | ||
TAP Portugal, commonly known as TAP, is the national airline of Portugal and its leading airline. It is based in Lisbon (Portela Airport), and is a member of Star Alliance since March 14, 2005, the same day on which the company also celebrated its 60th anniversary. Its hub in Lisbon is a key European gateway at the crossroads of Africa, North America and South America, where TAP stands out as the leading carrier in operation to Brazil, with 67 frequencies a week. Currently, TAP's network comprises 65 destinations in 30 countries worldwide. TAP operates over 1,600 weekly flights on average on a modern fleet of 53 Airbus aircraft, to which are added 16 more aircraft servicing PGA, recently acquired. Its current Chief Executive Officer is Fernando Pinto.
Contents |
[edit] History
The airline was founded on March 14, 1945, beginning commercial service on September 19, 1946, from Lisbon to Madrid with a Douglas DC-3 under the name Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP). On December 31 that year, it began its Linha Aérea Imperial, a twelve-stop service including Luanda, Angola and Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique.
In 1947, domestic services commenced from Lisbon to Porto as well as from São Tomé to London. TAP began service to Tangier and Casablanca in 1949. In 1953, the airline became a private company.
The one-millionth passenger flew on TAP on June 19, 1964, 18 years after the airline began operations. In 1969, service to New York via Santa Maria Island in the Azores began. Boston was added to the New York service the following year. In 1975, TAP was nationalized, becoming a state-owned corporation (Empresa Pública) and changing its name to TAP Air Portugal in March 1979.
TAP purchased Boeing 747s during the 1970s, replacing their Boeing 707s; but they were eventually sold due to lack of demand. They were replaced by Lockheed TriStars and Airbus A310s on long-haul routes. By the late 1990s, TAP had expanded its fleet by selling its older Boeing 727s and Boeing 737s, and had replaced them with Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. The TriStars were sold to Air Luxor and were replaced by more capable Airbus A340s giving TAP a large fleet of Airbus-only aircraft.
In 1989, the service to Newark, New Jersey was introduced and in 1991, the service to Berlin was started. Also in 1989, TAP became a publicly-traded company (Sociedade Anónima). 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 ended in 2005.
1996 saw the introduction of service to Boston via Terceira Island in the Azores, the inauguration of service to Macau and the launch of TAP's Website. In 1997, service began to Punta Cana and Bangkok. Flights to Bangkok and Macau were discontinued in 1998.
In 2005, TAP Portugal became the 16th member of Star Alliance. TAP Air Portugal was re-branded as TAP Portugal in February 2005, employing 9,750 staff. TAP also ended its code-sharing agreement with Delta Air Lines and began a new agreement with United Airlines, as part of its membership in the Star Alliance. Under this agreement United's code (UA) is placed on TAP Portugal's transatlantic flights and some African flights, and TAP Portugal's code (TP) is placed on United flights.
In 2006, it started a code-sharing agreement with US Airways on all routes between Portugal and the USA with connection services out of Newark and Philadelphia.
On November 6, 2006, TAP Portugal signed a deal with Espírito Santo International for the acquisition of 99.81 per cent of the Portuguese regional airline Portugália. Whether Portugália will join Star Alliance as a regional member or merge its operations with TAP remains unclear.
TAP inaugurated five weekly A330-200 services between Lisbon and Belo Horizonte (Tancredo Neves Intl/SBCF) on 11 February 2008.
In 2009 TAP Portugal is expected to be privatized, [1] and to start scheduled flights to Moscow, Warsaw and Helsinki, beginning in June.[2]
[edit] Subsidiaries
The subsidiaries of TAP Portugal are:
-
Portugália (100%)
-
/ 
Air Macau (20%)
- / Macau Asia Express (10.2%)
-
- Groundforce (Handling) (49.9%)
- TAP Maintenance & Engineering (100%)
- Academia Aeronaútica de Évora (10%)
- TAP Tours (100%)
- TAP Serviços (100%)
- Caravela (100%)
- CateringPOR (51%)
- Lojas Francas de Portugal (51%)
- Megasis (100%)
- UCS (100%)
Former subsidiaries include:
[edit] Destinations
- Further information: TAP Portugal destinations
[edit] TAP Cargo
TAP Cargo has four all-cargo routes. Besides these routes, TAP Cargo uses all TAP Portugal flights. The four all-cargo routes are:
- London Heathrow Airport, England operated by European Air Transport with a Boeing 757
- Frankfurt Airport, Germany operated by MNG Airlines with an Airbus A300
- Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany operated by MNG Airlines with an Airbus A300
- Brussels Airport, Belgium operated by Royal Jordanian with an Airbus A310
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.
[edit] On board
The aircraft are divided into a two-class cabin - Top Executive and Economy Class.
On the medium-haul fleet of Airbus A319, Airbus A320 and Airbus A321, the cabin features leather seats with an in-flight entertainment (IFE) system of several LCD screens that are extended from the cabin ceiling. The Top Executive class, on the other hand, offers better privacy and a gourmet meal.
On the long-haul fleet of Airbus A330 and Airbus A340 aircraft, the cabin is divided into a two-class layout. The Economy Class of the Airbus A330 is equipped with individual LCDs with touchscreen and a complete IFE on new aircraft, while the older ones feature an average IFE and less-updated individual screens.
In Top Executive class, seats are capable of turning into lie-flat beds. New Airbus A330 aircraft are also fitted with extra functions.
[edit] Fleet
The TAP Portugal fleet consists of the following aircraft as of December 2008 :[1]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers (Executive/Economy) |
Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A319-100 | 19 | 132 | Domestic and European | |
| Airbus A320-211 | 4 |
156 | Domestic and European | Exit from service in 2009: CS-TNA,CS-TNB,CS-TNE,CS-TNO.
(Being stored until March 2009) |
| Airbus A320-214 | 11 (6 orders leased) |
156 | Domestic and European | Deliveries: 6 in 2009 One (CS-TNP) in Star Alliance livery |
| Airbus A321-200 | 3 | 194 | Domestic and European | |
| Airbus A330-202 | 5 |
268 (24/244) | Azores, North and South American | New AVOD system in Economy and Business |
| Airbus A330-223 | 7 |
263 (24/239) | Azores, North and South American | One (CS-TOH) in Star Alliance livery Old AVOD in Economy and new AVOD system in Business |
| Airbus A340-300 | 4 | 274 (36/238) | African, North and South American | Exit from service 2014 |
| Airbus A350-800 | (8 orders) (3 options) |
287 (estimated) | International | Entry in service: 2014 Deliveries: 2014-2017 |
| Airbus A350-900 | (4 orders) | 314 (estimated) | International | Entry in service: 2014 Deliveries: 2014-2017 |
| Embraer ERJ 145 EP | 8 | 45 | Domestic and European | Portugália fleet |
| Fokker 100 | 6 | 97 | Domestic and European | Portugália fleet |
| Beechcraft 1900 | 2 | 19 | Spain | PGA Express fleet |
[edit] Retired
The following is a list of aircraft that TAP Portugal used to operate since it began operations in 1945, and are now no longer with the fleet.
- Airbus A310 ---------------Retired in 2008
[edit] Codeshare agreements
- Aegean Airlines
- All Nippon Airways (SA)
- airBaltic
- Air One
- Austrian Airlines (SA)
- British Midland Airways (SA)
- Croatia Airlines (SA)
- Egypt Air (SA)
- Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique
- LOT Polish Airlines (SA)
- Lufthansa (SA)
- SATA International
- South African Airways (SA) (Lisbon-Johannesburg operated by TAP & Johannesburg-Cape Town/Durban/East London, Eastern Cape/Port Elizabeth operated by SAA and Lisbon-Faro/Funchal/Porto) [3]
- Spanair (SA)
- Swiss International Airlines (SA)
- TACV
- TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas)
- Thai International Airways (SA)
- Turkish Airlines (SA)
- Ukraine International Airlines
- United Airlines (SA)
- US Airways (SA)
Note: This list includes Star Alliance (SA) partners.
[edit] Incidents and accidents
- TAP Portugal Flight 425 (Funchal Airport, Madeira, 1977), the only accident with fatalities.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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