TAP Air Portugal increases flights to North Atlantic countries
INTERVIEW: Carlos Paneiro, Vice-President of Sales for North & Central America
By Luis Aparício | Published 27/10/2020
TAP Air Portugal’s Vice-President of Sales for North and Central America markets, Carlos Paneiro (photo), spoke with Discover magazine regarding the return of TAP’s operations in Montreal. He also highlighted the strengthening of this route commencing in October. According to Paneiro, the resumption plan allows the airline to guarantee connectivity of flights between the Americas and Europe.
Discover magazine – What is your assessment in terms of resuming flights to Canada and the demand that exists for both destinations, Toronto and Montreal?
Carlos Paneiro – This year, even in the context of a pandemic, TAP added another Canadian city to its network of destinations – Montreal. The inauguration of the Lisbon-Montreal route on July 30th, highlights the achievement of one of the strategic paths traced by TAP – the expansion of flights to countries in the North Atlantic, and reinforcing its presence. In July TAP also inaugurated the Ponta Delgada-Boston route, which now connects flights from Lisbon to New York, Boston and Miami, and Toronto and Montreal. It is an accomplishment to create new routes during this turbulent period for the civil aviation sector and for international travel in general.
Flights between Montreal and Lisbon are via the new and versatile A321LR, a narrow-body family aircraft, which routinely operates mid-range routes. The innovative features of this aircraft allow it to fly long-haul routes, offering passengers the same comfort of a long-haul plane.
Flights between Montreal and Lisbon are made on the new A321LR, a narrow-body model that innovates by offering the same comfort as a long-haul aircraft.
DM – TAP announced an expansion of flights planned for October with 82 routes and 666 weekly flights, including more destinations to Brazil and the United States. What is the prospectus about this from the Portuguese airline?
CP – TAP is gradually resuming the connection between North America and Europe. In October, TAP’s network will be further strengthened with a total of 82 routes and 666 planned flights. That same month, TAP will re-launch services from Chicago and San Francisco to Europe, with two flights per week, and resume its entire network in the United States. The company will also make two daily flights between New York and Portugal (EWR). TAP is the airline which offers the most flights between the United States and Portugal. This resumption plan will re-establish the connection between the Americas and Europe, where most cities are already connected within the TAP network. Improved connectivity will provide a travel time of less than 4 hours when departing from a North American city such as Newark, NJ, to a destination in Europe. Connections can be made to 35 European cities allowing for stops in Portugal, in order for passengers to take advantage of the offers and discounts on experiences provided by TAP’s Stopover Program. In October, the airline expects to resume 88% of its routes to North Africa.
TAP will start flying to Dakar, in Senegal; Sal, Praia, Boa Vista, and São Vicente, in Cabo Verde; and to Marrakesh and Casablanca, in Morocco. In Brazil, the cities of Brasília, Natal, Porto Alegre, along with the new destination of Maceió, will also be available for travel. These routes will have two flights a week.
The progression of the pandemic along with the dynamics and evolution of restrictions in various countries have resulted in changes in demand from passengers. TAP will therefore adjust the list of routes and flights when circumstances require.
DM – What can you tell us about TAP’s perspective on the new Toronto-Ponta Delgada route?
CP – The Azores have always been incredibly popular with Portuguese Americans, especially in the summer, so we are excited about the possibility of having a new route to that archipelago from Toronto. During the next few months, TAP will monitor the evolution of the pandemic and its relationship, allowing us to assess the completion of the inaugural flight in 2021.
DISCOVER MAGAZINE
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October 2020 – https://www.magazinediscover.com/discover-digital/
