Porto Alegre is TAP's 10th destination in Brazil
Company will operate 74 weekly frequencies to Brazil
TAP Portugal will launch, in June 2011, non-stop flights to Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul, the state with the fourth largest GDP in Brazil and a population exceeding 10 million inhabitants.
With four flights a week between Lisbon and Porto Alegre, subject to Brazilian authorities approval, TAP will be the launch company to start direct operations to southern Brazil, which to date has not had any non-stop flight services or connections to / from Europe.
The new destination also allows TAP to extend its flight offerings to Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Montevideu (Uruguay), with connections to these cities on flights operated by code-share partners beyond Rio Grande do Sul
In 2010, the Portuguese airline carried more than 1.4 million passengers between Portugal and the nine Brazilian gateways previously served, which means more than 25 percent increase year on year. TAP’s on-line cities in Brazil also include: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Campinas, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife, Natal and Fortaleza.
With the commencement of direct operations to this tenth destination, TAP will soon offer 74 weekly frequencies in the whole, thus strengthening its position as the largest airline in operation between Brazil and Europe. Last November 2010, TAP Portugal was again awarded as the “World’s Leading Airline to South America” by the WTA, World Travel Awards, for the second year in a row.
The city of Porto Alegre was founded by the Portuguese from the Azores. The state of Rio Grande do Sul is one of the 27 in Brazil and borders the state of Santa Catarina to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Uruguay to the south and Argentina to the west.
Porto Alegre joins Miami, Athens, Bordeaux, Dusseldorf, Manchester, Vienna and Dubrovnik on the list of new destinations so far announced for 2011 by TAP.