From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TAP Portugal
IATA TP	ICAO TAP	Callsign AIR PORTUGAL
Founded		1945
Hubs		Lisbon Airport
Focus cities		Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport Faro Airport Funchal Airport
Frequent flyer program		Victoria
Member lounge		Top Executive Lounge
Alliance		Star Alliance
Fleet size		52 (68 with Portugalia)
Destinations		61
Parent company		TAP Portugal
Headquarters		Lisbon, Portugal
Key people		Fernando Pinto (CEO)
Website: http://www.flytap.com

TAP Portugal (former known as Transportes Aéreos Portugueses - Portuguese Air Transportations) is the national airline of Portugal, based in Lisbon and a member of the Star Alliance. It operates to destinations in Europe, Africa and North, Central and South America.

Contents 1 History 2 Subsidaries 3 Destinations 4 TAP Cargo 5 Fleet 5.1 Retired 6 Codeshare agreements 7 Incidents and accidents 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

The airline was founded on 14 March 1945, beginning commercial service on 19 September 1946 from Lisbon to Madrid with a Douglas DC-3 under the name Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP). On 31 December of that year, it began its Linha Aérea Imperial, a twelve-stop service including Luanda, Angola and Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique.

1947 saw the inauguration of its domestic service from Lisbon to Porto. Service to São Tomé and London began in 1949.

In 1953, the airline became a private company and began service to Tangier and Casablanca.

The one millionth passenger flew on TAP on 19 June 1964, 18 years after the airline began operations. In 1969 service to New York via Santa Maria Island in the Azores began. Boston was added to the New York service the following year. In 1975, TAP was nationalized, becoming a public corporation (Empresa Pública).

TAP purchased the Boeing 747 during the 1970s, replacing their Boeing 707s; but the 747s were eventually sold due to lack of demand. They were replaced by Lockheed TriStars and Airbus A310s on long haul routes. By the late 1990s TAP had expanded its fleet by selling its older Boeing 727s and Boeing 737s and had replaced them with Airbus A319, A320 and A321. The TriStars were sold to Air Luxor and were replaced by more capable Airbus A340s giving TAP a large fleet of Airbus only aircraft.

In 1975, TAP was nationalized and changed its name to TAP Air Portugal in March 1979.

In 1989 service to Newark, New Jersey was introduced and in 1991, service to Berlin. Also in 1989 TAP became a publicly-traded company (Sociedade Anónima). In 1993, TAP began flying to Tel Aviv. In 1994, TAP began a code sharing arrangement with Delta Air Lines for north Atlantic service. This agreement was ended in 2005.

1996 saw the introduction of service to Boston via Terceira Island in the Azores, the inauguration of service to Macau and the launch of TAP's Website. In 1997, service began to Punta Cana and Bangkok. Flights to Macau and Bangkok were discontinued in 1998.

In 2005 TAP Portugal became the sixteenth member of the Star Alliance. TAP Air Portugal was rebranded asTAP Portugal in February 2005. It employs 9750 staff. TAP also ended its code sharing agreement with Delta Air Lines and began a new agreement with United Airlines as part of its membership in Star Alliance. Under this agreement United's code (UA) is placed on TAP Portugal's trans-atlantic flights and some African flights, and TAP Portugal's code (TP) is placed on United flights.

In 2006, it started a codesharing agreement with US Airways on all routes between Portugal and the USA and connection services out of Newark and Philadelphia.

On November 6, 2006, TAP Portugal, a member of Star Alliance, signed a contract with Espírito Santo International for the acquisition of 99.81 percent of the regional airline Portugália. Whether Portugália will join Star Alliance as a regional member or merge its operations with TAP is still unclear.

TAP will inaugurate five times weekly A330-200 service between Lisbon and Belo Horizonte on 17 February 2008.

• Air Macau (20%)
  • Macau Asia Express (10.2%)
• Portugália (100%)
  • PGA Express
• Groundforce (Handling) (49.9%)
• TAP Maintenance & Engineering (100%)
  • VEM Maintenance & Engineering (90%)

• In the past
  • Air São Tomé and Príncipe (40%)

• In the future
  • Spanair - TAP and Lufthansa are expected to place a bid on Spanair^[1]
    • Aerolineas de Baleares

Further information: TAP Portugal destinations

TAP Cargo has four all-cargo routes. Besides these three routes, TAP Cargo uses all TAP Portugal flights. The four all-cargo routes are:

• Porto - London, England, operated by a European Air Transport all-cargo Boeing 757
• Lisbon - Frankfurt, Germany, operated by a MNG Airlines all-cargo Airbus A300
• Lisbon - Cologne, Germany, operated by a MNG Airlines all-cargo Airbus A300
• Lisbon - Brussels, Belgium, operated by a Royal Jordanian all-cargo Airbus A310-300

TAP Cargo has Lisbon-Luanda all-cargo non-regular flights, in Avient Aviation DC-10F, Girjet 747-200F, or other leased airplanes.

The TAP Portugal fleet consists of the following aircraft as of December 2007:^[2]

TAP Portugal Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers (Executive/Economy)	Routes	Notes
Airbus A310-300	4	188 (18/170)	Caracas, Northeastern Brasil, Sao Tome, Cape Verde	Exit from service: November 2007 to July 2008
Airbus A319-100	17 (2 used orders)	132 (50/71)	Domestic and European	Entry in service: 2008 Ex-Air Canada
Airbus A320-200	15 (8 orders)	156 (42/114)	Domestic and European	Deliveries: 6 in 2011, 2 in 2012 One in Star Alliance livery
Airbus A321-200	3	194 (35/152)	Domestic and European
Airbus A330-200	8 (4 orders) (2 options)	224 (42/182) 262 (24/238)	South American	Deliveries: November 2007-July 2008 One in Star Alliance livery
Airbus A340-300	4	274 (42/238)	African, South and North American
Airbus A350-800	(8 orders) (3 options)	287	International	Entry in service: 2014 Deliveries: 2014-2017
Airbus A350-900	(4 orders)	314	International Routes	Entry in service: 2014 Deliveries: 2014-2017
Embraer ERJ 145 EP	8	49 (49)	Domestic and European	Portugália
Fokker 100	6	99 (99)	Domestic and European	Portugália
Beechcraft 1900	2	19 (19)	Spain destinations	Portugália

• Lockheed L-1011 Tristar
• Boeing 737-200
• Boeing 737-300
• Boeing 727-100
• Boeing 727-200
• Boeing 707
• Boeing 747-200
• Sud Aviation Caravelle
• Lockheed Constellation
• Douglas DC-3
• Douglas C-54 Skymaster

Aegean Airlines All Nippon Airways Air One Austrian Airlines British Midland Airways Croatia Airlines Egypt Air Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique LOT Polish Airlines Lufthansa

SATA International Spanair Swiss International Airlines TACV TAM Linhas Aéreas Thai International Airways Turkish Airlines Ukraine International Airlines United Airlines US Airways

• TAP Portugal Flight 425 (Funchal Airport, Madeira, 1977), the only accident of the airline with fatalities.

• Air Macau
• Portugália
• Star Alliance

• TAP Portugal Official Website
• TAP Portugal Fleet

v • d • e Members of Star Alliance

Air Canada • Air China • Air New Zealand • All Nippon Airways • Asiana Airlines • Austrian Airlines • BMI • EgyptAir • LOT Polish Airlines • Lufthansa • Scandinavian Airlines • Shanghai Airlines • Singapore Airlines • South African Airways • Spanair • Swiss International Air Lines • TAP Portugal • Thai Airways International • United Airlines • US Airways Regional members: Adria Airways • Blue1 • Croatia Airlines Future members: Air India • Turkish Airlines Former members: Ansett Australia • Mexicana de Aviación • Varig

v • d • e Airlines of Portugal
Aerocondor · Air Luxor · EuroAtlantic Airways · Hifly · Lusitania Airways · Luzair · Orbest · Portugália · SATA Air Açores · SATA International · TAP Portugal · White

v • d • e Members of the Association of European Airlines

Adria Airways • Aer Lingus • Air France • Air One • Air Malta • Alitalia • Austrian Airlines • BMI • British Airways • Brussels Airlines • Cargolux • Croatia Airlines • CSA Czech Airlines • Cyprus Airways • Finnair • Iberia Airlines • Icelandair • Jat Airways • KLM • LOT Polish Airlines • Lufthansa • Luxair • Malév Hungarian Airlines • Olympic Airlines • Scandinavian Airlines System • Spanair • Swiss • TAP Portugal • TAROM • Turkish Airlines • Virgin Atlantic Airways

v • d • e Lists relating to aviation
General	Timeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines
Military	Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft
Notable incidents and accidents	Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths
Records	Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft