TAP: Eight new destinations a year?

TAP’s executive president Antonaldo Neves stated this week that the national airline hopes to net one million extra passengers a year and add eight new destinations.

He said that TAP needed to multiply the company’s profits by seven in order for the airline to be sustainable.

“We have a medium-term vision which is to multiply our revenues by seven and this isn’t about being optimistic, it’s a question of necessity. TAP needs to multiply its income by seven to be sustainable,” he said on board a test flight for a new A330-900 neo.

The TAP obtained profits of €21.2 million in 2017 which contrasted with a loss of €27.7 million in 2016.

The CEO pointed out the financial commitments from upgrading its fleet by buying nine new airbus planes and said the “only way of financing growth was within a sustainable and profitable company where the profits are reinvested to grow the company.”

Humberto Pedroso, from the consortium Atlantic Gateway which holds a 45% share of TAP, said that he hoped that the TAP Group can multiply its results by at least seven — these results are part of pre-defined targets to be achieved within three or four years and set by the previous executive.

Antonoaldo Neves also stated that TAP expected to hire over 1,500 employees over three years and add at least eight new destinations a year including a direct flight from Lisbon to San Francisco.