TAP Portugal

Infobox Airline
airline = TAP Portugal

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logo_size = 300px
fleet_size = 53 (69 with Portugalia)
destinations = 62
IATA = TP
ICAO = TAP
callsign = AIR PORTUGAL
parent = TAP Portugal
founded = 1945
headquarters = Lisbon, Portugal
key_people = Fernando Pinto (CEO)
hubs = Portela Airport Lisbon LIS
focus_cities = Faro Airport Faro FAO, Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport Porto OPO, Madeira Airport Madeira FNC
frequent_flyer = Victoria
lounge = Top Executive Lounge
alliance = Star Alliance
company_slogan = Fly higher. (Voa mais alto.)
website = http://www.flytap.com
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thumb|right|Boeing 727 with classic livery 1950s-1979]

TAP Portugal (formerly known as TAP Air Portugal & "Transportes Aéreos Portugueses"ndash Portuguese Air Transportations) is the national airline of Portugal, based in Lisbon (Portela Airport) and is a member of the Star Alliance. It operates to destinations in Europe, Africa and North, Central and South America. Its current Chief Executive Officer is Fernando Pinto.

History

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

In 1947, domestic services commenced from Lisbon to Porto as well as from São Tomé to London. In 1953, the airline became a private company and began service to Tangier and Casablanca in 1949.

The one-millionth passenger flew on TAP on June 19, 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 state-owned corporation ("Empresa Pública") and changing its name to TAP Air Portugal in March 1979. TAP purchased Boeing 747s during the 1970s, replacing their Boeing 707s; but they 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 aircraft. 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 1989, the service to Newark, New Jersey was introduced and in 1991, the service to Berlin was started. Also in 1989, TAP became a publicly-traded company ("Sociedade Anónima"). In 1993, TAP began flying to Tel Aviv. In 1994, TAP signed for a code sharing arrangement with Delta Air Lines for North Atlantic service. This agreement 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 Bangkok and Macau were discontinued in 1998.

In 2005, TAP Portugal became the 16th member of Star Alliance. TAP Air Portugal was re-branded as TAP Portugal in February 2005, employing 9,750 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 the Star Alliance. Under this agreement United's code (UA) is placed on TAP Portugal's transatlantic flights and some African flights, and TAP Portugal's code (TP) is placed on United flights.

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

On November 6, 2006, TAP Portugal signed a deal with Espírito Santo International for the acquisition of 99.81 per cent of the Portuguese regional airline Portugália. Whether Portugália will join Star Alliance as a regional member or merge its operations with TAP remains unclear.

TAP inaugurated five weekly A330-200 services between Lisbon and Belo Horizonte (Tancredo Neves Intl/SBCF) on 11 February 2008.

Subsidiaries

The subsidiaries of TAP Portugal are:

*sort flagicon|Portugal Portugália (100%)
**sort flagicon|Portugal PGA Express
*sort flagicon|China/sort flagicon|Macau Air Macau (20%)
**sort flagicon|China/sort flagicon|Macau Macau Asia Express (10.2%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal Groundforce (Handling) (49.9%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal TAP Maintenance & Engineering (100%)
**sort flagicon|Brazil VEM Maintenance & Engineering (90%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal Academia Aeronaútica de Évora (10%)

*sort flagicon|Portugal TAP Tours (100%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal TAP Serviços (100%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal Caravela (100%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal CateringPOR (51%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal Lojas Francas de Portugal (51%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal Megasis (100%)
*sort flagicon|Portugal UCS (100%)

Former subsidiaries include:
*sort flagicon|Sao_Tome_and_Principe Air São Tomé and Príncipe (40%)

Destinations

TAP Cargo

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

* Heathrow International Airport,England, operated by European Air Transport with a Boeing 757
* Frankfurt International Airport,Germany, operated by MNG Airlines with an Airbus A300.
* Cologne-Bonn Airport,Germany, operated by MNG Airlines with anAirbus A300
* Brussels Airport, Belgium, operated by Royal Jordanian with an Airbus A310-300

TAP Cargo also operates Lisbon-Luanda all-cargo non-regular flights, in an Avient Aviation DC-10F, a Girjet 747-200F, and other leased aircraft.

On board

The aircraft are divided into a two-class cabin - Top Executive and Economy Class.

On the medium-haul fleet of Airbus A319, Airbus A320 and Airbus A321, the cabin features leather seats with an in-flight entertainment (IFE) system of several LCD screens that are extended from the cabin ceiling. The Top Executive class, on the other hand, offers better privacy and a gourmet meal.

On the long-haul fleet of Airbus A330 and Airbus A340 aircraft, the cabin is divided into a two-class layout. The Economy Class of the Airbus A330 is equipped with individual LCDs with touchscreen and a complete IFE on new aircraft, while the older ones feature an average IFE and less-updated individual screens.

In Top Executive class, seats are capable of turning into lie-flat beds. New Airbus A330 aircraft are also fitted with extra functions.

Fleet

The TAP Portugal fleet consists of the following aircraft as of June 2008 : [ [http://www.flytap.com/USA/en/Company/Fleet/ TAP Portugal Fleet Information] ]

Retired

The following is a list of aircraft that TAP Portugal used to operate since it began operations in 1945, and are now no longer with the fleet.
*Airbus A310 ---------------Retired in 2008

*Lockheed L-1011 Tristar

*Boeing 737-300

*Boeing 737-200

*Boeing 727-200

*Boeing 727-100

*Boeing 707

*Boeing 747-200

*Sud Aviation Caravelle

*Lockheed Constellation

*Douglas DC-3

*Douglas C-54 Skymaster

*Douglas C-53

*Douglas C-47

*DHC-6

Codeshare agreements

Note: This list includes Star Alliance (SA) partners.

Incidents and accidents

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

References

External links

* [http://www.flytap.com Official website]

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