TAP Air Portugal is flying the Airbus A321 Long Range jet (with registry CS-TXC) on the Lisbon-Washington, DC route for the first time. The flight departed Lisbon at 4:30pm (local), with 14 passengers in Business class and 145 in the Economy and EconomyXtra cabins, and is expected to arrive at Washington Dulles (IAD) this evening at 8:30pm.
This will be the first time the narrow body family aircraft will operate on this route.The departure is planned for 10:40pm tonight, arriving back in Lisbon tomorrow at 10:50am. The innovative features of this aircraft allow it to offer passengers the premium comfort of a larger aircraft.
The Airbus A321LR offers 16 full-flat, state-of-the-art executive seats. But the aircraft also offers more space in Economy class with ergonomic seats, equivalent to that available on the Airbus A330neo, and an onboard entertainment and connectivity system free with unlimited text messages.
For TAP, the A321neoLR lowers costs tremendously and eases seasonality issues, making it viable to continue high frequency service into the lower-demand winter months.
“The A321neoLR is a game-changer for TAP as we pioneer across the Atlantic Ocean with one of Airbus' latest new generation models. The aircraft is also one of the most efficient and comfortable in the world – and lowers our trip costs on the route by about 50 percent. The reach and flexibility of this aircraft allows us to increase our connections between the US and Portugal, as we’ve done from Porto to Newark and now between Lisbon and Washington-Dulles,” says Antonoaldo Neves, TAP's executive president.
