Portuguese flag carrier TAP Air is set to strengthen its Latin American network once more, with a new route and the resumption of a former connection before the end of the year.
Three flights a week
From 3 September 2024, the airline will commence three weekly flights between Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil, and Lisbon. The new route will connect the Portuguese capital’s airport with Florianópolis – Hercílio Luz International Airport, growing TAP Air Portugal’s enviable Europe-Brazil network.
Operated aboard an Airbus A330-200, configurated to accommodate 269 passengers (244 in Economy and 25 in Business), the 11-hour service will see Brazil-bound flights depart on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays between 10:10 and 10:50 in the morning, arriving in Florianópolis, which is four hours behind Lisbon, between 17:15 and 17:55 local time. Flights heading to Europe from Florianópolis will take off between 19:35 and 20:40, arriving in Lisbon the following day between 9:50 and 10:55.
Europe’s leading airline to South America
TAP already operates 95 weekly flights from 11 Brazilian state capitals and Florianópolis will become the carrier’s 12th destination there, affirming TAP’s reputation as a gateway airline for the Latin American market. For a decade, it has been consistently voted Europe’s leading airline to South America in the World Travel Awards.
What’s more, the airline’s CEO, Luís Rodrigues, has hailed the timing of the new Florianópolis route launch, which comes at a point when another TAP destination, nearby Porto Alegre airport in Rio Grande do Sol, has had to be discontinued due to catastrophic flooding in the region.
Return to Manaus
Shortly after September’s expansion to Florianópolis, November 2024 will bring the resumption of TAP flights to Manaus, following an 8 year hiatus. Manaus, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, adds a 13th Brazilian hub to TAP’s menu. Again, three weekly flights are on the cards, (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).
With an ambition to “be the leading international airline in Brazil”, TAP’s goal is “to bring more and more tourists to Brazil, not just from Portugal but from all over the world,” Rodrigues said in a statement, adding that the carrier now boasts “more than 60 destinations in Europe and Africa, which can also be flown by Brazilians via Lisbon and Porto.”
