TAP to exceed 100 aircraft again from next year

TAP will once again have more than 100 aircraft in service next year, when it will no longer be subject to the 99-aircraft limit imposed by the Restructuring Plan agreed in 2020 with Brussels. By 2028, it will receive 22 more Airbus aircraft.

The business plan forecasts that the airline will be operating 101 aircraft in 2026, according to ECO. Since 2019, when it had 105 aircraft in service, TAP has not exceeded 100 aircraft. That number may be revised if there is a rescheduling of deliveries agreed with Airbus.

The fleet limit imposed by the Restructuring Plan, which brought €3.2 billion into TAP, is, along with the saturation of Humberto Delgado Airport, one of the main constraints on the company’s growth. With the end of the plan in December, this brake will disappear.

The growth of the fleet from next year onwards is, in fact, one of the assumptions of the carrier’s 2025/2030 Business Plan.

The plan assumes an average annual revenue growth of 5.6% over the next five years, based on “the opportunity to capture additional traffic through the expansion of capacity in recovery slots, taking into account the maximum capacity of Lisbon airport, and also fleet growth from 2026 onwards”, according to the latest annual report and accounts.

In recent years, TAP has been rejuvenating its operational fleet under the contract signed between Airbus and David Neeleman’s DGN in 2015, which provides for the acquisition of 53 aircraft, with the phase-out of the oldest ones. NEO family aircraft already account for 71% of the total.

The airline has renegotiated the aircraft delivery schedule with the European manufacturer several times, especially after the pandemic, extending it until 2028. The pre-delivery payment list includes 22 more aircraft, ten A320neo, ten A321neo and two A330neo.

In May, TAP expected to receive two A321neo and one A320neo this year. Two A330neo are scheduled for delivery in the third and fourth quarters of 2026.

The end of the Restructuring Plan, whose profit targets have been exceeded by TAP, will give the future private shareholder greater freedom to manage the size of the fleet.

Last month, the government kicked off the sale of 49.9% of the airline, including 5% to employees, with the approval of the decree-law for the first phase of TAP’s reprivatisation. The decree was promulgated by the President of the Republic on 7 August, and the specifications are expected to be approved shortly.

The decree establishes that requirements for participation in the operation include being a certified air operator, having financial capacity and being of a relevant size.