Tap attacking Iberia on its home turf

When it comes to Brazil, nobody beats Tap. The Portuguese national carrier is flying to nine destinations in the former colony: Brasília, Belém, Belo Horizonte, Fortalzea, Natal, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo. These are more destinations than any other European airline.

But Tap is not stopping there. Next summer the Portuguese will increase the frequencies between Lisbon and Belém and Natal by two to five, and between Porto and São Paulo by one to four weekly flights, as they recently announced. The new flights will be operated with Airbus A321 LR.

Also more US flights

In recent months, Tap has expanded not only in Brazil, but above all in the USA. And the airline is also continuing to invest there. Next summer it will increase its flights from Lisbon to New York to two a day, plus daily flights from Lisbon and Porto to New York-Newark. Miami will be increased from seven to ten flights a week, Chicago and Washington from five to seven.

Where the additional passengers are to come from to Brazil and the USA has already been determined at Tap: to a large extent also from the neighbouring country. The airline is massively expanding its range of feeder flights between Portugal and Spain. It is also setting up an airlift between Lisbon and Madrid as well as Porto and Madrid. There will then be six daily flights each between the cities – significantly more than today.

Much more frequent flights to Spanish cities

At the same time, the feeder flights between Lisbon and Barcelona (from six to seven per day), Bilbao, Malaga, Valencia (from two to three) and Seville (from three to four) will be increased. Santiago de Compostela is also on offer. Tap obviously feels strong enough now to take on arch-rival Iberia. In 2018, the number of seats on offer was increased by 12 percent, this year by 9 percent, explains Tap. That’s the way it should go on.