DALLAS - Portuguese flag carrier TAP Air Portugal (TP) has commenced a new direct service between Porto (OPO) and Luanda (LAD) in Angola.
The first flight took off on May 28, 2023, departing from OPO at 13:30 and arriving eight hours later in LAD at 21:35, all local times. This new connection will operate twice weekly on Wednesdays and Sundays, using TAP's modern fleet of Airbus A330-900 aircraft.
The A330neo enables TAP to schedule new high-demand long-haul routes with a significantly lower cost for fuel burn, enabling them to offer more competitive prices in the market. The airline currently operates 19 of the A330-900, configured in a two-class layout carrying 298 passengers.
New Timing Advantages for Passengers
The capital of Angola, Luanda, is already connected daily with Lisbon (LIS) with four scheduled services shared between TAP and the foreign flag carrier TAAG Angola Airlines (DT), which has been recently granted overflight rights in European airspace, allowing them to operate regular flights to Portugal and Spain.
Despite this, a second service to Portugal's second-largest city, Porto, makes sense, as customers will not only be able to enjoy a new direct form of travel to an amazing African country for business and tourism but as well will be offered more flexible timings for connecting onwards to Europe if previous schedules flying through Lisbon were inconvenient.
Thanks to this, the sphere of influence generated by TAP as one of the largest connectors between Europe and Africa, and South America is now reinforced. It can now compete with even more with carriers such as Iberia (IB), Air Europa (UX), Air France (AF) or Royal Air Maroc (AT) in both markets.
Colonial Past Creates Demand
The historical connection between South America and Africa and several European countries has played a key role for several airlines, which have built massive connectivity hubs for passengers traveling between those continents.
Iberia (IB), for example, is the leading airline transporting passengers between Latin-American countries such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Colombia to the rest of Europe. It also has a limited presence in African regions such as Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, and Morocco. On the other hand, TAP Air Portugal has created a large airbridge between Portugal and Brazil, with multiple daily flights to the country's main cities.
TAP also maintains a decent network of long-haul flights to Africa, being present in many territories such as Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and former Iberian colonies during the XX century.
https://airwaysmag.com/taag-increases-luanda-lisbon/
Featured image: Tony Bordelais/Airways.
.avif)