TAP Air Portugal Launches Three New Routes From Lisbon to Americas With Airbus A321LR

TAP Air Portugal announced Tuesday that they were launching three new routes from Lisbon to the Americas including service to Maceió, Montreal and Lisbon-Ponta Delgada-Boston.

TAP Airbus A320neo - Courtesy TAP Air Portugal

Today, Transportes Aéreos Portugueses SA (TAP) announced service from Lisbon to three new destinations in the Americas. The new routes will be serviced by an Airbus A321LR and include Lisbon- Maceió (Brazil), Lisbon-Montreal and Lisbon-Ponta Delgada (Azores)-Boston. With today’s announcement, TAP now serves as many cities in North America as it serves in Brazil. The new routes will be inaugurated in 2020 and are part of TAP’s commitment to growth in the Brazilian and North American markets. In Tuesday’s announcement, TAP’s CEO, Antonoaldo Neves said,

“This aircraft, the A321 ‘LR’ which I occasionally claim stands for ‘Lisbon Range,’ is a true game changer. The way to travel between Brazil and Europe is now more modern, efficient and environmentally friendly. With the departure of old airplanes, flights to and from Brazil are now operated exclusively by new or modern cabin interiors, which allow passengers to enjoy high levels of comfort.”

In the next year, TAP will expand its Brazilian network, operating 92 weekly flights. Although the competition in Brazil is fierce, TAP has maintained a 26% market share in the country and currently commands 89% of direct passenger traffic between Brazil and Portugal. TAP has also grown its North Atlantic routes and with today’s addition of Montreal and Boston, the airline will now serve 11 North American gateways. Commenting on their North Atlantic route expansion, TAP’s CEO, Antonoaldo Neves added,

"This is a historic moment in the company’s journey. With the inauguration of these new routes, TAP goes from three routes in 2015 to 11 North American routes, the same number as Brazil. This is another important step in the company’s network diversification and expansion plan, which strengthens its exposure to new and less volatile markets.”

Next year, TAP will operate 82 weekly flights to North America, including two direct flights to Boston, where they can benefit from their partnership with JetBlue. The company expects to carry an additional 360K passengers between North America and Europe next year, a substantial increase over the nearly one million passengers currently carried. Between 2015 and October 2019, TAP has increased the number of passengers carried between Europe and North America by 250%

Source: TAP Air Portugal