TAP Air Portugal has released its latest figures for flights between Europe and Brazil, reporting what it called a “massive” increase in passenger numbers.
The flag carrier flew over 640,000 customers on over 3,100 flights between Europe and Brazil in the first six months of this year, up 526 per cent on the same period in 2021.
TAP also said that it accounted for 28 per cent of the passenger market share between Europe and Brazil over the period.
The airline is set to offer 76 flights per week to Brazil this summer, the most by a foreign carrier.
TAP serves a total of 11 Brazilian cities from Lisbon: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belem, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Natal, Maceio, Porto Alegre, Recife and Salvador.
The airline competes directly with LATAM on the Lisbon-Sao Paulo route, while major European carriers including Iberia, British Airways, Air France, KLM and Lufthansa all operate nonstop transatlantic flights between Europe and Brazil.
Commenting on the figures Ricardo Dinis, TAP country manager for the UK and Ireland, said:
“Brazil is a core market for TAP and as the main international airline linking Europe and Brazil, we have matched the soaring customer demand with a significant boost in flights during the last six months.
“Portugal’s popularity as a gateway to Brazil continues to rise and our 86 per cent capacity levels, compared to pre-pandemic flights, is an indication that TAP is increasing its market share.
“We are attracting more and more customers to fly to our extensive Brazilian destinations, many of which we are the only European carrier offering transatlantic connections.
“With a wide network of more than ninety destinations worldwide, the continued strengthening of TAP’s transatlantic frequencies is a strong sign of our continued recovery.”
TAP Air Portugal completed its long-haul fleet renewal shortly before the onset of Covid-19, taking delivery of 30 aircraft in 2019 including a fleet of 17 A330-900 neos, which TAP was the launch customer for in late 2018.
