TAP Air Portugal carried 8 million passengers in first half 2019
- Number of passengers carried rises in the Company’s total network
- North America recorded the largest increase (+ 9.6%)
- European routes, excluding Portugal, with the highest number of passengers carried (4.8 million)
- Azores and Madeira with 4.9 percent increase in traffic
In the first six months of the year, TAP Air Portugal carried around 8 million passengers (7.9 million), representing a growth of 4.8 percent over the previous year.
The Company was able to record passenger increases in all network sectors it operates (except South and Central Atlantic), especially North America, with 9.6 percent more passengers transported, for a total of 428 thousand, and Africa, where TAP grew 8.5 percent to 586,000 passengers.
Brazil experienced a slight slowdown, with 2 percent fewer passengers in the first half, but with the most 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 per cent, reaching 633,000 passengers on all routes to and from the Autonomous Regions.
Also noteworthy is the Lisbon-Porto “Ponte Aérea”, with growth in the first half of 5.8 percent for the 400,000 passengers.
It is recalled that, traditionally, the first semester always has lower records than the second semester. Additionally, TAP launched new routes during the first half (Tel Aviv, Basel and Dublin on March 31, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco, Naples and Tenerife throughout June) and some already in the second half in July (Conakry and Porto-Brussels), with their impact on traffic growth only fully felt in the second half of the year.
In September, the Company 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.
