TAP Air Portugal Posts Hefty Uptick in Passenger Numbers

TAP Air Portugal carried nearly eight million passengers worldwide in the first six months of the year. The figure represents growth of 4.8 percent on the first half of 2018.

The airline recorded passenger increases in all network sectors it operates (except South and Central Atlantic), especially North America, with 9.6 percent more passengers transported.

In Africa TAP grew 8.5 percent, to carry 586,000 passengers.

Brazil experienced a slight slowdown, with two per cent fewer passengers in the first half, but with the recent months already showing signs of a recovery.

In June, for example, TAP carried 3.4 percent more in Brazilian routes than in the same month of 2018.

On European routes - excluding Portugal - TAP had the highest absolute growth, reaching 4.8 million passengers, 227 thousand more, or 4.9 percent than in the first six months of the previous year.

In flights between mainland Portugal airports (Lisbon, Porto and Faro), TAP grew 1.8 percent.

In the Azores and Madeira routes, the national airline increased by 4.9 percent, reaching 633,000 passengers on all routes to and from the autonomous regions.

In September, TAP will also open flights between Porto and Munich and Lyon and between Lisbon and Banjul.

The effect of the new routes, coupled with the traditional higher traffic of the second half, allows TAP to state that in 2019 the airline will surpass all records in the number of passengers carried.