TAP’s capacity for winter is already at 80% of 2019 levels
The information was given by the company's board at a virtual meeting with workers on Friday.
TAP’s seat availability is closer to pre-pandemic levels. After having been around 50% of capacity in the summer, the airline is increasing the number of flights for the winter. According to what ECO found out, seat availability is now at 80% of the 2019 level. The figure was conveyed this Friday to workers in a virtual Q&A session with the CEO, Christine Ourmières-Widener, and the rest of the executive committee.
The 20% drop in the so-called ASK (Available Seat Kilometer) means a significant recovery from last winter’s levels, when the capacity reduction was between 60% and 70% compared to winter 2019.
ECO also found that sales from Brazil are contributing to this improvement, and have risen 20% in recent weeks, particularly since September 1, when quarantine was no longer mandatory for travellers from the South American country.
The recovery of Brazil, and also the United States, is of great importance to TAP. South America (26%) and North America (14%) weighed almost as much as Europe (41%) in 2019 ticket revenue.
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rita Marques, said on Friday, quoted by Lusa, that the recognition of Brazilian vaccination certificates is a “complex” issue, but that the government is working with the Brazilian government, and there are still “technical issues that have to be defined and resolved.”
TAP announced at the beginning of September that it will have 941 round-trip flights per week during the IATA winter season, which runs from October 31 to March 26 2022. To Brazil, it will operate 52 weekly flights on its 12 routes. In the United States, Mexico and Canada, flights will be resumed on all the routes that TAP operated before the pandemic, with a total of 59 flights per week on 11 routes. In addition to these, there will be 585 flights to Europe and 93 to Africa and the Middle East.
