TAP to Launch New Routes in 2017
National airline TAP is to launch 11 new routes next year, mainly to Europe, as part of the flag-carrier’s growth plan.
In a meeting with airline employees to outline the carrier’s plans, TAP CEO Fernando Pinto explained seven of the 11 new routes will be to Europe, three to Africa and one to the US, and they should be launched “in principal next summer.”
The airline’s president said some of the European destinations will be cities to where the company has flown in the past, though he did not clarify which routes were being reintroduced because of the competition.
Next year TAP also intends to boost its operations to the autonomous regions (Madeira and the Azores), Porto, Lisbon and Faro, “due to tourism growth in Portugal.”
During the workers’ address, Pinto further stressed the intention to re-launch routes to Brazil that were reduced in frequency due to the political and economic instability in what is TAP’s main market, which was hard hit by the devaluation of the real.
According to Mr. Pinto, TAP’s boost is only possible thanks to investment in the fleet which entails the renovation of the interiors of 48 aircraft, budgeted at €70 million, and the purchasing of new aircraft.
Fernando Pinto said it is “inevitable” to compare TAP’s fees with low-cost companies, stressing “we must compare ourselves with low cost airlines. We need to come close, but we don’t want to be a low cost airline.
“Our niche is a different one, but we have to be able to compete.”