The U.S. Is Rising as a Major Market for TAP

TAP Air Portugal shareholder David Neeleman talks:

• This week's addition of a San Francisco-Lisbon route
• Business travel on that route
• Demand between the U.S. & Portugal

TAP Air Portugal is growing its U.S. service. After launching service between Chicago and Lisbon in early June, the carrier began service between San Francisco and Lisbon this week and will add service to Washington Dulles next week. Speaking at the launch of the San Francisco flight, chair Miguel Frasquilho said the carrier's passengers to the U.S. have grown faster than any other European airline over the past four years. The U.S. is now TAP Air Portugal's third most important market in terms of revenue, up from ninth in 2015, and he said TAP plans to grow even more. TAP was the launch customer for Airbus A330neo aircraft and uses them for its new U.S. routes. The carrier now operates more than 100 aircraft and has 71 more on order through 2025. Entrepreneur David Neeleman, who founded JetBlue and Azul Brazilian Airlines and co-founded WestJet, is a major shareholder in TAP and is helping drive its growth spurt. He spoke to BTN transportation editor Michael B. Baker at the San Francisco flight launch.

BTN: What led to the establishment of a route from San Francisco?

Neeleman: It's something I've wanted to do since the day we privatized the airline. I always thought it would work perfectly. The first flight is full, going in and out. So, so far, so good.

BTN: Do you expect much business traffic on this route?

Neeleman: I do. There's a really developing tech community in Portugal. It has a really educated workforce and salaries aren't that high, so people are doing outsourced stuff there and there are entrepreneurs there developing tech enterprises. We have the Web Summit over there, which has 80,000 people. Plus, anyone who is leaving from here and going to Spain—other than Madrid, there's not a lot of nonstop service—we serve 11 cities in Spain and also into southern France.

BTN: What about the other cities?

Neeleman: Yes, Chicago last week and next week in Washington. The beautiful thing about Washington: They have all this summer service, and the winter service either goes away or is greatly diminished. Because we have the [Airbus A321neo long-range aircraft] with 16 lay-flat business seats, we can fly year-round. [TAP will switch to a smaller aircraft on the route in October for the winter but will maintain frequency.]

BTN: What are your fleet plans?

Neeleman: We have 34 airplanes this year coming in. Every plane we fly will either be a reconfigured airplane or a brand-new airplane.

BTN: Is demand growing between the U.S. and Portugal?

Neeleman: It's kind of a hidden gem. People haven't discovered Portugal, and it wasn't on anyone's radar. It's the place you always wanted to go but never really made it there. Now, we've got it, and a lot of business conferences are there now because it's all about access.