For the first time ever, TAP Air Portugal carried more than a million passengers in February — the 12th consecutive month in which the airline has carried more than one million people. TAP carried 1,042,019 passengers last month – up 150,000, or 16.9 percent, from February 2017.
TAP also recorded its best-ever February load factor, with 80.2 percent of available seats occupied by passengers, representing a 1.3 percent increase on the same period last year.
On long-haul routes, flights to and from North America grew the most – up 25.7 percent to 52,000 passengers 11,000 more than last February). TAP carried 126,000 passengers on its Brazilian routes – 20,000 (18.6 percent) more than in February 2017.
The greatest increase in the absolute number of passengers carried was recorded on European routes (excluding Portugal), with 631,000 passengers, up 92,000, or 17.1 percent, from February 2017.
The greatest relative increase was once more recorded on the routes to and from the Azores and Madeira Autonomous Regions, where the growth was 28.3 percent, or 16,000 people, to 74,000 passengers carried.
For the first February ever, TAP carried more than 20,000 passengers between Lisbon and Faro, more than 40,000 between Lisbon and Funchal and more than 10,000 between the capital and Ponta Delgada.
During February, TAP carried 54,000 passengers on its ‘Ponte Aerea’ route between Porto and Lisbon, representing a 4 percent increase on February 2017. The load factor on ‘Ponte Aerea’ flights increased to 74.7 percent, up 8.5 percentage points on the same month last year.
Last month was also the best February ever for TAP Cargo, which carried 6,400 tonnes of cargo and mail, representing a 15 percent increase on the volumes recorded during February 2017.
